


History Defiant

by TheCranberrySlut



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Blow Jobs, Cunnilingus, Dom/sub Undertones, Exo Anatomy (Destiny), F/F, F/M, Face-Fucking, Fingerfucking, Futanari, Futanari/Female/Male, Hand Jobs, Holy Fuck There Are a Lot of Sex Tags, Kitchen Sex, Light Bondage, Light Dom/sub, Masturbation, Masturbation in Shower, Multi, My Bad Yo, Not Totally Lore Friendly, Original Character(s), Porn With Plot, Shower Sex, Size Difference, Smut, Sorry Lore Whores, Taking Liberties With the Lore, Threesome, Voice Kink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:33:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 36,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22276408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCranberrySlut/pseuds/TheCranberrySlut
Summary: The past belongs to those who can remember. But what if it didn't have to? What if lost secrets could be revealed? And what if this world, as the Guardians know it, isn't only what they thought it was? (Original Fireteam. Post-Shadowkeep.) Porn with plot.
Kudos: 28





	1. In the Light

Indi-3 wound his way through the Tower's halls until he came to the central common area where a lone figure caught his eye on approach. Backlit by the Traveler above the City, her violet hair fell in a thick braid down her back as she leaned on the rail, staring off into the distance. He approached her slowly.

"Hey good-lookin'," he teased, turning until his back rested against the rail as well, letting the hood of his cloak fall back from his metallic cranium. 

The warlock turned her cerulean gaze to him, the barest hint of a smile gracing her mouth even as he knew she bit the inside of her cheek to prevent it. 

"Do you ever stop flirting?" she asked.

He crossed his arms. "That depends, Ara," he bantered. He leaned towards her, until the gleam from his jaw module tinted her pale skin purple with its light. His voice lowered in response to the passing Guardians. "Do you _own_ robes that don't hug your figure so well?"

He won this round, forcing a chuckle from her as Rook approached, the heafty Titan towering over them both.

"Got word there's some excitement on Mercury," his deep baritone rumbled. "Want to go check it out?"

Indi shrugged. "It's probably just the same old Vex bullshit it always is. I'm sure there'll be enough Guardians to handle it before we show up."

Ara stood up straight, raising her arms and stretching her muscles. Indi watched appreciatively as her robes twisted and tightened around her graceful form. "I'm ready to make shrapnel of them, either way."

"You know," the exo replied, standing and taking a half-step away from her, "You always worry me when you phrase it like that."

—x—

Ara's back met the cool wall of the room with a forceful _thud_. Indi-3's hands gripped her thighs, lifting her entirely with just the two limbs, belying his mechanical strength as the Awoken's arms wound around his neck. He didn't _technically_ have lips, but she kissed him anyway, feeling the ever-familiar need growing in her lower belly.

It always ended like this.

Only a couple hours ago, Indi-3 had invited her to this secluded area of the city where no one would disturb them. It was where he always came when she and Rook retreated to their respective rooms in the Tower. She knew he didn't sleep, not the same way they did. He was up hours after they had drifted off, and always awoke before them.

She had brought a bottle of alcohol, some concoction the street vendor swore was an original pre-Golden Age recipe. Ara didn't believe him, but bought the canister anyway, infuriated when she opened it on arrival.

It had looked like water. It had tasted like arc. 

Which was probably why it had only taken Indi a short while to coax her out of her clothes.

The cool metal of his frame did absolutely nothing to quell the burning of her entire being, even as he pressed against her bare chest. She clawed at the divets and grooves of his neck and head as he let loose one of her legs to press the gloved fingers of one hand to her core. She was certain he would not hurt her, but he insisted on the damned things anyway.

He pressed into her, forcing a strangled cry from her throat as he did so. "Too much?" he asked, suddenly losing all of his usual cockiness. She shook her head, grinding her hips against him now that one foot was planted firmly on the ground.

The purple rings of his optical sensors scanned her face as he added a second digit, stretching her and listening to her moans.

"Ohh _yes_ ," she hissed, her head falling back to rest against the wall. For an exo, he was exceptionally good at touching all the right places. It was only a moment before he had adjusted their positioning to find that bundle of nerves inside that made her mewl even before his thumb found her clit. Of course, when that happened, she dropped her hands to his waist.

She fumbled with the belts and straps of his pants until—"Finally," she mumbled—Ara exposed the front of his pubic area.

Exos didn't exactly have reproductive systems. However, human minds are used to human bodies, even _if_ those bodies aren't made of flesh and bone and blood and... _other things_. As with any technological revolution, the Golden Age had brought the sex toy industry leaps and bounds above what it had been before, as evidenced by some of the more comical discoveries made in old homes and cities scattered about the Earth. Those advancements assisted in the creation of the exos.

And so, while Indi-3 didn't have a reproductive system exactly, what he _did_ have was a synthetic penis, in a similar shape to what his mind would have been accustomed to in his life 'before'. This one just happened to be made of a silicone blend that was stronger, softer to the touch, and lasted for _centuries_. 

Thi inner core of the mechanism firmed in Ara's hand as she stroked it. An unnecessary action really, but it was a habit derived from her human and awoken lovers in the past. Indi-3 was her first exo, and likely her only since she didn't anticipate a change in fireteams.

Not that any other exos could compete with their level of familiarity, as evidenced by the way he adjusted his pressure _just so_ to have her unravel in his grip. 

"Gotta love it when you sing my song," he murmured as she came down from her high.

His glove, now covered in her slick, shined in the low light of the candles on the table nearby. Despite it, he grasped her leg again, hoisting it up over his hip and adjusting his angle. Her fingers found a few of her favorite grooves along his neck again as she moved her arms around him before he pressed forward slowly. She groaned, her eyes fluttering as he sank into her. 

Once she had enveloped his full length, he stilled, optical sensors studying her. The light from his jaws once again bathed her skin, always more obvious in a darker setting. He liked it, the way his light colored her skin as though marking her in some secret way that only he could see. As if it made her his.

"Indi please," she rasped, no longer content with only being filled.

"Not until you look at me," he whispered. Her own glowing gaze met his and, for a fraction of a second, seeing her jovial teammate staring at her so seriously, so _intently_ , stole her breath away.

Just like it always did.

And then he moved inside her, hips rolling against her. She struggled to keep her eyes trained on him, the sensations too good. It had been a while since they had been able to sneak off like this. And the alcohol certainly didn't help either. The coil in her belly began tightening again, too soon after the first. As if he could sense it, he increased speed to drive her there faster. She locked her ankles together behind him, hands fisting in his cloak. 

Why did he always wear the damn thing? Why couldn't he just take it off and bare himself to her the way she always did to him?

She tipped over the edge, keening as she did, unable to keep her eyes open any longer. He groaned, feeling her body clamp down on him. The sensation of touch there was not entirely dissimilar to the way he felt heat or cool or the pain of bullets, all of those were handled by the same system. Except that the touch in this case was infinitely better than any of the others.

He slowed, deepening his strokes both for his own pleasure and to drag out hers. He loved watching her come undone like this. His strong, serious, independent warlock falling apart at the seams around him. And she would do it again and again, until her body tired and she rested. Not being one for much sleep, he would drive her there.

The grip on his cloak loosened as she quieted down, her hands coming to the front of him. He leaned in, pressing a chrome cheek to her own heated face. She returned the gesture, meeting him halfway, a distraction as she quickly unfastened his cloak. It fell to the ground with a soft _whoosh_.

Quickly he pulled back from her, just enough to look her in the eye. "What are you-" 

"I want to see you," she said gently, running her hands up both sides of his neck. The caress made his own optical sensors flutter pleasingly. She loved it when her gentle touches made him do small things like that. It reminded her of how human he really _was_ , despite humanity not exactly being the pinnacle of existence. "It's been almost a year, Indi."

"Ara, I don't... I'm not..." he protested weakly as her hands continued to glide over him.

She leaned forward, pressing kisses from his faceplate up to where his short antenna connected with the side of his head. "Not what, baby?"

The old world endearment made him absolutely _weak_ and she knew it. He groaned softly in response, thrusting into her. It scratched at the edges of his mind whenever she used it, someplace farther away than he could recall and longer ago than he cared to wonder about.

Back when his pleasure could peak and create new life. 

He struggled against the wave of emotion that washed over him as he felt her fingers deftly undo the closures of his under armor. Funny how she was so much more adept at this than she was his pants...

Her other hand left the side of his face long enough to pull the offending garment away and toss it off to the side and she stilled. 

He stared at the cold gray wall above her head, avoiding her gaze and what he would find there. She had confessed to him once over strong drink, much like tonight, that she had never seen any part of an exo other than what their cowl revealed at the tower. That was what had started this whole affair in the first place. Her drunken desire to know more, and his cocky willingness to claim her and show her. 

Her hands glided over his steel chest, fingers catching slightly on the scratches and indents from battles his ghost _didn't_ have to revive him from. Bullets that tore through weaker armor and damaged his frame left their marks all across his body. Still, he was incredible. Smooth.

"Beautiful," she murmured. She raised a hand to cup his cheek, even as he refused to look at her. Stroking his face, the fingers of her other hand trailed along the dips and grooves and seams of his plating. She noted a lack of psuedo nipples, with some dissatisfaction, as it limited potential erogenous areas for him. The desire to reciprocate the pleasure he gave her as much as possible burned deeply in her chest.

"Not flesh," he finally finished, the words like stones between them. She kissed him then, pressing her bare chest against his and winding her arms tightly around his neck. A wave of something unexplainable overtook her. 

Her hips ground against him as he froze. Clearly he hadn't been expecting this response. Finally she came up for air, her grip turned to iron.

"I know Indi," she said with a moan as she rolled her hips in just the right way to make him groan softly. "But it doesn't change anything." She clawed at his form, rubbing her body against his for desired friction against the sensitive nub at her front. "I still want you."

Indi-3 forced her body tightly against the wall, pressing her back against it with his chest as he thrust deeply into her. She mewled in his grasp. "You have me, Ara." His purple gaze searched her face as she tossed her head back, the force of his thrusts bouncing her supple flesh when he dared look down. 

Sometimes it still seemed wrong, this metal body of his. Usually it was when he joined with Ara in this way, her organic form wrapped around his synthetic one. He could almost remember what it felt like to have his own pliant flesh, like a dream he couldn't quite remember. And yet he had to admit, seeing her breasts pressed against his shiny plates, the soft mounds flattening against him...

It was strangely enjoyable.

Ara peered through heavy lids at Indi as he looked over every inch of her body available to him. The titillating scrutiny turned the gears in her mind until she pulled her legs free and stood on her own weight. She pushed on his chest and moved towards the collection of crates in the corner of the room. Looking over her shoulder, she beckoned him with a grin and a sultry sashay of her hips. 

Before he reached her she had hopped on top of the boxes and spread her thighs, baring her core to him. He reached for her, but she shook her head, reaching out one bare foot to push him away.

"Sit," she commanded, gesturing with that same extended leg towards a small end table across from the boxes. Indi sat precariously upon it, his optical sensors training on her hand as she ran it along the center of her body from the hollow of her throat to her stomach and back up. Leaning back on her other hand for support, she moved her gliding touch further south with each pass until finally reaching her pretty purple lips. 

Delving a finger inside, he watched her slick cover her fingers before she brought them up to her clit and started to rub slow circles over it.

Indi's eyes were transfixed on the hand between her thighs as she toyed with her body. His cock jutted out from the rest of his frame, ramrod straight as he watched her. She moaned aloud, his hot gaze fueling her ministrations while her own eyes drifted from his member to his violet gaze and back. She brought herself to the edge of orgasm this way, watching as he sat up straighter, the top of his body visibly leaning towards her, before she sighed and let up, not quite giving him the satisfaction. 

He came to his feet suddenly, crossing the distance between them with an irritated huff before he pulled her hand out of the way and sheathed himself into her in one fluid movement. She cried out, sinking back onto her elbows as he set a furious pace, forcing her breasts and belly to bounce in time with him. One of his hands found her mound, his thumb flicking over her clit in short strokes. Her mouth formed a perfect 'o' as he teased her relentlessly, always backing down when he felt her walls closing in around him.

"Indi please," she begged, her head falling back.

"Please what?" he mocked.

"Let me cum, baby." He flicked her clit once, twice, three more times before applying a steady pressure that sent her over the edge, screeching his name while her thighs and pussy clamped around him. When he finally pulled back, his entire pubic area was covered in her. It dripped from his body to pool in the floor between his boots. He ran a finger along her slit where it swallowed him, collecting some of her juices before bringing them to his mouth.

Ara watched him taste her even as her body continued to spasm. She couldn't place quite why the sight made her so weak, only that it did.

Eventually he moved away to give her space to redress before she made her way back to the Tower. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him, pressing her body to his still-bare back.

"Would you mind if I stayed here tonight?" Ara asked. Indi shook his head.

"Bed's kinda small though," he said apologetically, moving aside a tattered curtain to reveal a corner of the room with a mattress on the floor, lit by the light of the Traveler as it hovered above the City through an old skylight.

"I'll stick close to you then," she replied, pressing soft kisses to the back of one shoulder plate. He nodded, grasping her hand on his chest in his own. 

—x—

Ara woke to Indi pressed against her back, his face nuzzled against her neck while his gloved hand roamed her sides. She sighed contentedly. "Enjoying yourself?" she teased.

"Are you?" he shot back, and that was when she noticed her hand between her thighs. She laughed softly, pulling it away. "Don't stop on my account."

She took his hand in hers, moving it down and throwing her leg over both of his behind her to spread open her thighs wide for him. "Maybe I'd rather you do it." He began running his fingers back and forth over her clit. She pushed her hips back against his, feeling him harden as she did.

Indi pressed his palm against her mound, urging her to angle her body so that he could slide in. Once he felt her warmth surround him, he began to thrust slowly, lazily continuing to trace her clit. She moaned softly, reaching back to run a hand along his chromatic body. He picked up the speed of his fingers as her breaths quickened and her pulse thrummed against his cheek. 

"Oh _stars_ Indi..." she breathed. Goosebumps covered her exposed skin as his hips met hers again and again. His fingers played her body like an instrument, swirling and rubbing until he found the tune he liked best. She spread her thighs wider, body begging for release. Just as she reached her peak, he backed down, removing his fingers and stilling inside her. She groaned, grinding against him before he placed his hand on her hip to stop her.

"Not yet," he murmured, moving his hand up her side to grasp one of her breasts. His thumb and forefinger found the hardened nipple, pinching and rolling it as he began thrusting again. She went wild then, gyrating her hips and clawing at his frame, her moans sharper now. He chuckled.

Her other hand went between her thighs while he toyed with her breasts. He didn't stop her as she quickly set to work, bringing her arousal to a head. He kept his pace steady, murmuring softly in her ear how beautiful she looked when she was about to cum. She bit her lip, brows furrowing. She was so close now. Almost there...

"Cum for me, Ara," he whispered, pinching her nipple harshly.

She cursed, grasping at him as she felt the edge approaching at light speed—

Her communicator beeped loudly, startling them both. Indi slammed a little too hard, forcing a strangled screech from her throat as Rook's voice rang out in the room.

"—sending us to Mars," he said. 

Indi's ghost materialized above his armor by the wall he'd fucked Ara against last night. "I just received a communication from-Oh! I'm sorry!" Her gleaming gold and white shell spun quickly in midair, facing away from where they lay in a tangle of limbs, Ara's orgasm still wracked her body, legs quivering. Indi's cock remained deeply sheathed in her body. His too-tight grip on her breast spurred her on.

"Indi," she gasped, "Please let go!"

He released her immediately, withdrawing his synthetic form from the pulsing confines of her pussy. She rolled away from him, dragging the sheet with her and wrapping up in it. 

"Ara!" Sol chirped, her shell twisting jerkily in her embarrassment. "I didn't expect you to be here." She turned slowly. "You usually don't stick around after... erm..."

Ara's eyes quickly focused on the other Ghost transmatting into the room. Tavi remained stock-still, taking in the sight before him. Sol hovered on one side of the room, nervously spinning the rear side of her shell this way and that. Indi-3 knelt completely naked on one side of a mattress, his shiny frame catching the daylight as it poured in from the skylight. Ara, his only reason for being in the room at all, lay tangled in a sheet at the edge of the mattress. All three stared at him.

"Oo-kay," he started, slowly. "I can see this is a bad time. Sol! Why don't we—uh—give them some privacy to dress?"

Grateful for the excuse, Sol flitted as far away from the bed as she could, disappearing behind the curtain that separated the mattress from the sitting area.

Indi and Ara sat in awkward silence for a moment before she pushed up from the floor. He started to speak, but she held up a finger, silencing him. "Please just grab my clothes so we can get to Mars." He nodded once quickly before moving around the curtain himself. "Right," she muttered to herself. "That was... great."

—x—

Ara stilled, taking a deep breath as she drew back her bow, setting her sight on the middle of the Fallen Captain's big ugly forehead. Rook lit into it with his machine gun while Indi fired off quick rounds at the surrounding Dregs. As soon as the Captain's shield went down, she loosed the arrow.

It sank into his forehead, dropping him to the ground before exploding with void energy, killing the last Dreg closest to him. 

"That's the last of them in this sector," Indi said through the comms in her helmet, in the same ear he'd been murmuring in this morning. A shiver went down her spine, followed quickly by flaming in her cheeks.

She summoned Tavi, who floated above her hand as he pulled up a map of the surrounding area. "It looks like our target is just over the ridge," she said. Rook nodded, reloading as she spoke.

"Let's go take him out so we can get back to the City," Indi said as he summoned his sparrow. "I really need a sandwich."

"How can you _need_ a sandwich?" Tavi asked him, spinning above Ara's palm. "Come to think of it, what happens to the food Exos eat? Does it digest, or just sit there?"

"I don't think we really need to know," Ara cut in, summoning her sparrow. Tavi huffed, disappearing again as she mounted it and took off in the direction of their quarry.

The small hole in the rock facing was covered with Hive gunk, built up around the edges and spreading out along the ground. Their sparrows transmatted back to the jump ships as they dismounted, and Ara pulled an arrow from the quiver at her hip. Indi drew his hand cannon. They approached slowly, with Rook in the lead, but nothing moved as they entered.

The cave widened not far in, the path twisting downwards. They made their way slowly, keeping an eye on the ground so as not to trip. The few Thralls they came across were quickly taken out by Ara's silent arrows.

"It's awfully quiet in here," Tavi said quietly from inside her helmet. 

"I noticed that too," Bishop muttered darkly. She was invisible, inside Rook's armor the way Tavi and Sol had done in Ara and Indi-3's, respectively. They remained tapped in to the communication network.

They pressed on. Ara's spine tingled with nervousness. While death wasn't something she necessarily needed to _fear_ , it wasn't something she relished in. Not like—

An unearthly scream tore through the cavern just as they reached a wide chamber. Small ambient lights hovered high above them, casting a dull orange glow that just barely illuminated the the Hive Wizard as it floated above them, towering at least three Guardians tall. Below it, scattered about, were at least a hundred Thrall. Ara's eyes went immediately to the pinpricks of green-blue and focused her arrows on the Cursed Thrall. With every released of her bowstring, one exploded, taking out a few more of its compatriots.

"Finally, some excitement!" Rook dove to the right, firing at the hoard beneath the Wizard as it screamed, lobbing bolts of Hive magic at him. He switched from the machine gun firing solar rounds, choosing instead a massive, red and white gatling-style auto rifle. As he held the trigger and laid into the Thrall, he yelled triumphantly. They fell much faster now.

"If you want any kills," Ara told Indi, who was still picking them off one at a time with his hand cannon, "You'd better find something bigger."

"I've got a better idea," he said, bringing his hand back to his body before quickly swinging his arm over his shoulder. The solar grenade landed beneath the Wizard, taking out a handful of Thrall. But mostly, the small explosions scratched at the shield of the Wizard, which turned its attention from Rook to them. "Ah. Okay. Well, that _is_ unfortunate."

Ara cursed before diving to the side behind a supportive pillar. Indi dove in behind her just as two large bursts of Hive magic scorched the ground they had stood on. Indi seemed to finally take her advice, switching to an auto rifle and moving on, out from behind the pillar into the fray. "Hunters," she muttered, rolling her eyes before peeking out and taking aim at the last Cursed Thrall as it made it's run towards Rook. Breath in, breath out.

The arrow sank into the creatures bright, bulbous forehead and its explosion echoed around the chamber along with the screams of the half-dozen or so Thrall it took out with it. 

"No fair!" Rook bemoaned. "I was aiming for that one next!"

Ara shot back, "Next time be a little quicker. And stop playing with them, we're here for a reason!" 

She turned her attention to the Wizard, now unsure which of the two visible Guardians to fire at. It fired twice at Indi before spinning in the air and searching for Rook, who had moved from the last place it had seen him. Every time it turned, it fired blindly until it found it's target. 

Good. _Let's add a little more confusion,_ she thought, taking aim with her explosive void arrows and firing one after the other at the Wizard's shield. Rook and Indi-3 whittled down the Thrall as the Wizard spun aimlessly in the air, seeking out its attacker. 

Ara moved from one pillar to the next and back again, changing the angle of her arrows as the shield weakend with every explosion. The shield broke and Rook reloaded, training the barrels on the Wizard while Indi picked off the last few Thrall. Ara kept her arrows aimed at its hideous maw.

Finally it died, exploding into a thousand black scraps of energy that dissipated as it fell. "Target eliminated," Sol chirped happily over comms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points to the individual who can name that liquor! It has a cultural significance to my home, and will make an appearance later on in the fic. It isn't incredibly important, just a fun bit of trivia.


	2. Lost in the Woods

Rook had gone off to the Crucible shortly after arrival at the Tower. Indi-3 made his way down to the City after stopping in to pick up a few packages from Kadi-44, leaving Ara to her own devices in the Tower as she headed off to what was left of the Archives. Her fixation on pre-Golden Age life and technology was insatiable.

Indi summoned his sparrow and cruised through the City, heading towards the more popular areas in search of food. He didn't want a sandwich, not really, but he did want _something_ substantial, and somewhere quiet to eat it. Ramen was totally out—he hadn't eaten it since... 

It was just something he couldn't do. So he blew past those shops, with their glowing bowls on the facades, in favor of another, less brightly lit restaurant a few blocks away.

People stared as he removed his helmet and Sol transmatted it back to... _wherever_ it went when she did that. They stared because he was a Guardian, not because he was an Exo. But the discomfort of being not-quite-human around so many humans was still... there. He tried not to think too hard about it.

This third cycle he had been on for some time seemed extraordinarily difficult. He wondered idly as he entered the establishment if his other two incarnations as 'Indi' had been quite so difficult. Maybe they had been worse. The journey he had made thus far as Indi-3 had begun to wear down on his soul. 

If he had one. What was a soul anyway? Chemicals and instinctual reactions made by the brain? His was synthetic. Did that matter?

But was a soul that quantifiable? Was it something more? Was _he_ something more, even made of metal and silicone and plasteel as he was? He was definitely still _him_ every time he was rezzed. 

But did that make him a _person_? Or just data stored in a microchip?

He ordered his food and moved to a quiet corner. Sol materialized, hovering over the table just in front of him. She was an unstoppable force of happiness. A wellspring of cheer. Something he sorely needed most days. He wasn't exactly sure what she had seen to make her resurrect him the first time.

"So," she whispered conspiratorially, "You gonna tell me what that scene this morning was about?" She bobbed, her shell twisting in her excitement.

Indi looked away, towards the patronage of the restaurant. A few people glanced at him, but most were too engrossed in their meals or the Crucible match on the screens in the corners of the rooms. Indi glanced at the scores of the match as the totals went up. Rook wasn't doing half bad, but he would likely be sore about it if he didn't make at least the top four scores of his matches.

"Ara asked to stay," he finally said. Sol whipped around to look at him, having turned away in the belief that he wouldnt answer her at all. "I thought it was just the liquor and the sex. But then this morning she came on to me, totally sober." The feel of her soft, pliant body next to his through the night had kept his bad dreams at bay. Last night had mostly been snippets of a life he couldn't remember, with a blonde woman he didn't know anymore. Small things, like the way she caressed his cheek or the sunshine on their skin as they made love in a field.

But she was long dead by now, and he was here.

Sol moved closer, looking over him. "This is a new development." She moved in front of his face, catching his eyes. "I always said you deserved partners who could be honest with you."

"Alcohol makes her plenty honest, trust me. It just... also makes her plenty horny, too." He looked down at his hands. His gloves, different from the ones he wore when they were together, had begun to fray at one of the seams. He picked at it.

If Sol could have rolled her eye, she would have. Instead, she settled for charging at his big, dumb, chrome head, pinging the front corner of her shell against him. He chuckled at her response even as her annoyance grew when he did. Indi snatched her from the air and held her in front of his face. The rear of her shell twisted and jerked as she tried to float out of his grip to no avail. Finally she gave up, glaring at him.

"Use your words," he chided, the humor thick in his voice. She pouted.

When he finally released her, she shook herself, all eight corners of her shell expanding and contracting individually. "I don't like that she only sleeps with you when she drinks. It feels dishonest. And you deserve more."

His response was barely more than a whisper. "Maybe I don't want more."

His food arrived then, effectively halting the conversation.

—x—

Ara replaced the leather-bound book she had withdrawn from the shelf. Hand-written journals such as this one were rare. Many had switched over to digital record keeping long before the Golden Age, and a fair number of the journals and physical records of life before the Collapse that had been in the Tower were destroyed in Gaul's assault on the Lightbearers. Still, the best artifacts, of course, were those found in the field. 

With a small sight, Ara stepped back, surveying the shelves and chewing her thumb nail. "Tavi, alert Tower control I'll be needing my jumpship," she said, turning to look at the Ghost staring down at the pages of a book wholly unrelated to her search that someone had left open on the table next to hers. 

He turned, facing her and bobbed gently. "Where are we going?" 

"The EDZ."

—x—

Rook stripped off his armor quickly, letting it fall into a pile in the bottom of the locker he had laid claim to for this round of the Crucible. Once naked, he moved to the showers the wash away the sweat. The scalding water felt wonderous on his aching muscles as he stood under the spray, his forearms pressed against the wall as he leaned on it. 

He had needed these last handful of matches to steady his adrenaline after the Wizard. The Hive, he thought, were more dangerous than most because of their ability to manipulate forces and take a Guardian's Light from them.

Rook would never admit it, but the Hive scared him.

So that fear had to be released, and the Crucible was the best place for it. He never cared much for Gambit. It was less honorable, he thought. Something about the Drifter's shifty behaviour.

The water moved around his hips in small rivulets, disappearing into the thick patch of hair at the meeting of his thighs. It tickled at first, and he shifted to standing straight, facing the spray. The door to the locker room opened as he pulled the small strap from his hair, letting the bit of hair caught in a ponytail fall foward. It fell into his eyes, which was why he normally kept it tied back on top. But he pushed his head under the hot water anyway, rubbing at it with his hands to begin the process of scrubbing clean. 

He swiped back his hair from his face, rubbing the water from his eyes as he searched for soap. Hanging on the wall by the edge of the shower was a metal basket with small, single use bars of soap about the length and width of his thumb but thinner than his pinky. As the water continued to beat on his shoulders, he let his mind wander, going over the matches and making mental notes of things to change next time.

An appreciative hum caught his attention as he began to rinse the soap from his front. He turned halfway, cocking an eyebrow. 

The Crucible had communal showers, each shower stall separated by a shoulder-height brick wall for semi-privacy. Rook never bothered with a curtain because most Guardians, after the match, simply quickly showered and left. 

Clearly this particular Guardian had other ideas as she eyed him up and down. She turned away when she noticed him watching her, a small smirk taking over her mouth. Her dark hair was cropped short, about chin length. Still long enough for him to run his fingers through for a fistful. Most human women didn't mind things like that, he'd found. Or at least, not the ones he had slept with.

He returned to washing himself off, in case he had misunderstood her intentions. The sounds of zippers and snaps and cloth hitting the floor lent itself to that possibility. Clearly she was here for a shower, and he had no business interfering.

"That was a pretty great match today," she said from behind him. He heard the other shower turn on. Rook turned around to rinse the soap from his back, and stopped short. 

She had taken the stall directly across from his and left the curtain wide open. Her body arched as she leaned back slightly, wetting her hair in the spray as the water ran down the rest of her body. She had thick, muscular thighs below a set of wide hips that tapered into a slightly narrower waist before giving way to an impressive bust. Her breasts swung with every movement of her arms as she swiped her hands through her hair. His eyes followed one of them as they moved back down her front to her stomach. 

But it was her mouth, full lips parted slightly as she focused more on her movements, that caught his attention most. He turned back to face the showerhead and hopefully hide his steadily stiffening member.

The only goal at this point was to get dressed and get out before she saw him, and so he shut off the water and turned to quickly grab a towel from the shelves on the far end of the shower area by the lockers. Yet when he turned, eyes unable to resist one more glance at her, he found her staring at him. Her fingers danced lewdly over stiff pink nipples as they locked eyes. She licked her lips, small tongue darting out to glide across their fullness.

His feet carried him to her stall of their own accord and she watched his slow approach. Her gaze traveled over him, coming to rest on the stiff erection at the juncture of his thighs. 

Lashes fluttered as she stared up at him, taking her own small step out of the shower spray, reaching out to brush her palm against the head of his erection. He cocked an eyebrow, and she wordlessly sank to her knees, stroking his flesh as she encapsulated the tip in the hot cavern of her mouth. He groaned, threading his fingers through her wet hair.

She took him inch by inch, tongue gliding against his flesh as she moved torturously slow. Her smaller hand stimulated the base, fingers sliding through his curls. Her other hand cupped his sack, massaging gently. His eyes rolled back in response when she pressed against the firm bundle right behind his balls, rubbing slowly. 

The head of his cock bumped the back of her throat and she gagged softly for a moment as she struggled with his size. Looking down, he saw more inches yet for her to take. Her own dark gaze met his bright blue, and she swallowed, the pressure forcing his cock to jerk in response. He growled as she pressed on, even slower this time. Entirely too eager, he bucked against her, hilting himself in the hot confines of her throat. Fingers gripped her dark locks, a deep guttural moan escaping him. Her body's natural reaction was to pull away, prevented by his grip in her hair. She gagged much louder this time, her hand on his pubic mound sinking nails into flesh. 

He pulled away. 

"Too much?" Rook asked softly. She shook her head as best she could with his cock still in her mouth. Her eyes had watered in her struggle though, and she blinked it away, causing a small tear to slide down from the corner of each eye. He wiped them away with his thumbs. "Do you want to keep going?"

"Mmhmm.' The vibrations from her throat forced a groan from his and he sank into her mouth again. Her hand left his lower belly to disappear between her own thighs as he began to thrust slowly in and out of her mouth. Her fingers pressed against his perineum again, rubbing in time with his thrusts. He gripped her hair, driving himself all the way in again. She swallowed this time, staving off a gag, and hummed low in her throat.

He cursed, grasping her hair at the roots and thrusting deeply. She moaned and sighed, both from his motions and from her own fingers moving between her thighs. His head fell back as her deft fingers and her writhing tongue worked him over. 

Her eyes rolled back as she brought herself to climax, her throat vibrating with a loud moan. Rook groaned loudly himself, sinking his cock completely to the hilt as his seed burst forth into her tight hot throat. He rocked softly, riding out his orgasm, feeling her nose in his curls and her chin against his balls.

Finally he pulled away, his still stiff cock sliding free from her face. A long line of spit and cum trailed from his tip to her tongue, breaking when he moved to help her stand. With a wry grin, she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and shut the water off.

"Aren't you going to finish your shower?" he asked. She ran her fingers through her short locks to smooth them out after his own large hands had mussed them.

The Guardian looked at the ground as she reached out and placed her hands on his hips. "I didn't actually need one," she confessed. She leaned her bare chest against his, her breasts pressed teasingly against his skin as his softening member still pressed against her belly. "Wanna take me for a real spin?"

He laughed, the booming sound echoing off the walls. He appreciated her forwardness. She was much like an Awoken, though her inclination to allow him to grip and use her for his pleasure was.... _less_ like most Awoken women. "I don't even know your name."

Her dark eyes flicked to his as she pulled his hand to the side of her face, nibbling at the pad of his thumb. It was oddly pleasurable. "You'll fuck my face in a public shower, but you won't take me back to your place for real sex?" she teased. 

He tensed. She giggled, pulling his thumb into her mouth and swirling her tongue around it before he pulled it free with a soft wet _pop_.

"Alethia," she said softly. "And, for the record, I'm not complaining. You're pretty tasty." With a wink, she turned and strode off for a towel. He grinned, following.

—x—

"Remind me again why we come out here alone," Tavi grumbled next to Ara's ear as she picked through the remnants of an apartment complex a couple of kilometers outside of the EDZ. Most everything of value had been taken, and any papers or books had long since been destroyed. The building had been cleaved In half by something massive some time ago, as evidenced by the mouldy wallpaper and the vines tangling and twisting amongst themselves as they creeped along the exposed surfaces.

Still, Ara sifted through piles of rubbish in search of... something. She didn't know what.

She sighed. "Because Rook thinks all of this is boring and Indi-3 is... distracting." She moved through a doorway into what looked like it might have at one time been a bedroom. A broken and warped chest of drawers leaned against one wall, its drawers having been ripped from it and strewn about the room. On another wall, a collapsed bed frame lay piled up just next to the floor's edge, a cool hundred or so feet above the ground. She started by the doorway, lifting the strewn drawers in hopes of anything worthwhile. A few bits of fabric, likely old clothing, but nothing more.

Tavi seemed to have been waiting for Ara to have dropped the bait. "And on that particular subject, do you care to explain this morning?"

"What about it?" she asked simply, moving around to the night stand. It's drawer was stuck. Frowning, she removed it and flipped it over, searching for a way to loosen it without destroying it. It had been nailed shut. Odd.

Tavi dutifully shined a small light as she worked, prying loose each nail with a knife. Whatever these nails had been made of, it was nothing compared to the composition of her blade. 

"You were in his erm..." He paused briefly, searching for an appropriate term for what basically amounted to a squatter's dwelling. Indi didn't care for the rooms available to Guardians at the Tower, nor the nearby apartment complexes made available to them. Anything resembling permanency, it seemed. "You stayed the night."

"And that's a problem?" Ara asked, finally freeing the drawer. It held few items of consequence; some dried out pens, a few blank yellowed papers, a long-dead pocketwatch, and a small envelope. She pulled each piece out, scouring it for any importance. The watch she tucked away in a small pocket at her hip. She fingered the envelope, curious at its surprisingly substantial weight.

"Not a problem," Tavi said slowly, parsing his words. "Just... unexpect-"

_Crack!_

Tavi flew across the room, landing in the corner. Ara gasped, launching herself at him and scooping him up into her hands. She shoved the envelop down her front and clutched his shell tightly to her chest. He was alive, just unconscious, a deep groove in the top corner of his shell where the round just barely missed him.

They were _extremely lucky_.

Looking out over the leveled city square, Ara saw a handful of Cabal taking aim at the spot where she had been just a moment ago. What were they doing so far out here?

No matter. She had to get them both to safety.

With Tavi down for the moment, she couldn't conjure her sparrow. The only option was to run. Quietly and quickly as possible, Ara dipped through the doorway, making small jumps so as not to test the tenuous grasp she had on her Light. When her boots crunched on the grass and gravel at the base of the building, she tore off across the square in the opposite direction from the Cabal.

Unfortunately, it was also the opposite direction from the cathedral where Devrim Kay resided. She was completely on her own, for the first time since her resurrection, without even her Ghost.

Heart pounding, she raced into the treeline. The Cabal must have seen her; their heavy footfalls followed her as she darted between the trees, unwilling to put Tavi in her pocket in case it jarred him too much. She only had her bow and her blade on her, everything else having been transmatted away upon landing.

She had wanted to be light. Quick. Hopefully now it was enough to keep her from being dead.

The trees opened into a large field. Ara kept running, trying to make it into the trees on the other side. The Cabal behind her let out a bellow but fell back, refusing to pass through the treeline into the open. She looked back, brow furrowing as she slowed. The handful of heavily armored warriors turned, fleeing back the other direction. 

Her breath came out in puffs as she looked around for the larger threat that must surely have been fierce to scare away the Cabal. But she saw nothing.

To the east, a small stone cottage sat nestled back against the treeline, nearly indistinguishable from the surroundings for the thick moss that layered over the stone. Smoke rose from the chimney, blue against the deep green backdrop of the thick forest that blanketed the hills behind it. Drawing her blade, she approached slowly, still clutching Tavi to her chest. Hoping against hope that their luck hadn't run out back at the square, she pushed open the door.

The room appeared empty. A small fire burned happily in the hearth, casting a low glow. Across from it, a beat up couch divided the seating from the eating area where a small table sat with only a few chairs. In one back corner, a woodburning stove, a small old fridge, and a sink set into a small counter constituted the kitchen, with a few small cabinets and shelves for storage. The other corner held a bed, half blocked off from the windows with tapestries. Spread along the floor in the cozier areas were animal furs to serve as rugs over what was clearly a hand-hewn wood floor. Everything looked to be either handmade or salvaged from the nearby EDZ. 

A blade pressed against Ara's throat. "Move and you die, stranger. Drop the knife." The voice was steady, raspy but feminine, as though it wasn't used often. She opened her hand, letting the knife fall to the wooden floor with a clatter. "What is that in you other hand?"

Ara swallowed her fear. "My Ghost. I'm a Guardian of the Last Safe City. We were caught off guard and he was damaged. I mean you no harm."

"You're a Lightbearer?" her captor asked. "Prove it."

She shook her head gently. "I can't until my Ghost wakes up," she said gently. "I just need a safe place to wait." The blade slipped away from her throat and she turned. "My name is Ara."

"Iridessa," the woman said. Dark, wavy hair framed her face, falling well past her shoulders. She was broad, muscular, but with ample curves and shorter than Ara. She kept her knife out.

"I'm going to pick up my blade now. And then I'm going to put it away." Iridessa nodded and Ara crouched down, sheathing her knife at her thigh. "I swear, I mean you no harm," she repeated.

Iridessa eyed her warily, but tucked her own blade away before motioning towards the table. "Sit. I'll prepare some tea, and then maybe you can tell me exactly how you came to invade my house." A little guiltily, Ara nodded and moved to sit at the table, still cradling Tavi against her body.

—x—

Indi pushed open the door to his quarters with his hip, his two paper grocery bags weighing down each arm. He set them on the counter and began putting everything away.

"Since when do you buy groceries?" Sol asked. "Since when do you _cook_?"

Indi shrugged, too embarrassed to admit that their conversation earlier had him wondering about the relationship between him and Ara. Did her asking to stay mean anything? Was he reading too much into it?

Trying not to think too hard about it, he moved past Sol to flop down on the couch. He pulled out his communicator, shooting Ara a message asking if she was free to come over. Hopefully between now and then he could come up with an excuse for inviting her. While the point of inviting her over was to cook for her, he didn't want her to _know_ he was trying to impress her.

She probably would anyway.

—x—

Alethia clawed at Rook's back as his hips slammed into hers, forcing them down into the mattress. She screamed, her walls clamping down around him as she came. He bit into her shoulder, adding to the necklace of bruises she already wore. 

Pulling free, he grasped and flipped her, pulling her ass into the air and sinking into her again. She moaned, her voice echoing off the walls of his room. One hand went to her hip as he set a furious pace, his earlier orgasm staving off the one he worked towards now. It made him last longer, sure, but the longer it took him to finish, the more frustrated he got. He tended to be much rougher when he was, but she seemed to be enjoying it just fine.

Alethia's moans were muffled now, her face pressed into the mattress. He growled and reached out, gripping her hair by the roots and pulling her head back. "I wan to hear you," he rumbled, slamming deeply into her.

Her body jerked in response. "Oh _stars yes_..."

She came again, her body trembling under his as she pulsed around him. Finally, he tipped over the edge with a satisfied roar. His cock jerked wildly inside her body as she moaned, rocking back against his hips and deepening their pleasure.

Fatigue overtook them both as they untangled their legs, hers having hooked around his when he'd mounted her. Rook fell to the side, Alethia's back pressed against his side as his chest heaved. She rolled, tucking her head against his shoulder and sighing contentedly.

"You are extremely fun," she crooned, running her palm over his chest. "I actually feel really bad for taking you out by the turbine."

"That was _you_?" he asked, peering down at her. "You killed my streak!"

Alethia cackled, her whole body spasming with laughter. He liked that. Chuckling, he pulled her closer, wrapping his body around her protectively as she nuzzled her face against his chest. His communicator beeped on the side table, but he was too exhausted to worry about it. The message would still be there in the morning, and so, hopefully, would Alethia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to post weekly, with a tentative Sunday posting. But life happens, so we'll see.


	3. Hunter // Hunter

Green light splayed across Ara's face. She raised her arm to cover her eyes, desperately trying to cling to fitful sleep.

No such luck. 

Turning on her side, she looked down at her armor piled next to the couch where her head lay on a soft pillow, courtesy of her host who still snoozed softly in the back corner of the house. Tavi lay limp on top of the pile, his eye still dark. Fear gripped her heart. He had never been shut down for this long.

What if he never woke? What if she became Lightless? What if her time as a Guardian, and all the good she could still do, was finished?

She pushed up, moving to the sink to splash water on her face. She dried it on a cloth before looking out the window as the sun rose slowly over the field. Several small vines with flowers the shade of void energy climbed the wall next to the glass panes. She watched them for a moment, as if they held the answers to her plight. They did not.

With a sigh, she rested her hip against the counter and looked around. Movement behind the tapestries caught her attention and she stilled. Iridessa moved around her bed into Ara's line of sight, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she yawned. Ara diverted her attention, seeing that her host had woken from her sleep completely nude. A slight blush crept into her blue cheeks.

Iridessa emerged from behind the tapestries. "I thought you'd be gone by now." She moved into the kitchen and set about preparing a meal. She kept her back to Ara, who moved over to the table.

"Tavi still hasn't woken up," she murmured, wrapping her arms around herself.

"You sure he's not dead?" Iridessa asked bluntly. Ara simply hugged herself tighter and chewed her bottom lip, looking over at his vibrant blue shell. A base model, really. They had gotten it just after Ara's first successful solo mission. She had insisted on something snazzy for him, to commemorate the occasion. Her glimmer piles had not been nearly so high, but he wore the shell with such pride. She had tried to show him other, newer shells as time went on. But he had remained adamant that he loved that shell best.

The dent was significant, like a giant scar.

Her fault.

Iridessa turned, and saw her house guest's blue face had paled. "I'm sorry. I'm not so good with people. It's just... don't these things run constantly until... until they don't?"

"They sort of sleep, like we do," she said softly. "It's a cycle. They go into low power mode. It functions like rest for people. At least... that's what he tells me."

"Do they dream?" she asked.

Ara pursed her lips then, her guilt washing over her. "I never asked."

—x—

Indi hadn't heard from Ara, and Rook generally did his own thing. So he headed through the Tower, making his way to the hangar. Maybe he'd get in some target practice on Nessus.

"Indi-3. It's been a long time." He turned, eyeing the hunter with her short gray cloak. She shook back her hood, freeing her dark blue mane, razor-cut on one side. Her deeply tanned skin glowed with excitement as she stepped off the Arcadia-class jumpship in deep purple and blue. He took a half step back from the console, cancelling the call for his jumpship.

"Isla." He couldn't help an appreciative glance over her strong form. She'd gotten a bit more muscular since he'd last seen her. "Been busy?"

"Oh, you know, this and that." She shuffled from one foot to the other. "Where's your warlock friend?"

 _Ara._ He still had not recieved communication from her. He wasn't sure whether he should worry. "Researching, I suppose."

If he let the uncertainty slip, she certainly didn't mention it. Instead, she stepped closer to him, reaching past his frame to the console and logging her ship. "Let's go get a drink then, eh?"

—x—

"I've got to tend to the garden," Iridessa said, having changed into a solid-piece outfit with straps instead of sleeves. "You are welcome to join me, although I doubt you'll be much help."

Ara wasn't sure how to respond to that. Actually, she wasn't exactly sure how to respond to any of this. She felt useless, like a timer someone had set upon a shelf without first winding up. Things happened around her, though she played no part in them.

Tavi lay, still and silent, on the table before her. The guilt she felt was an ocean. A tidal wave that had had thrown itself over the city blocks of her heart and now dragged pieces away to its depths. Her hands twisted together.

Iridessa paused with bated breath for the inevitable question. It was the end of the year, and no one should be growing crops this time of year. But, she was. She didn't want to spill her secrets yet, but surely this Lightbearer would notice...

The Warlock remained perfectly still at the table, lost in deep thought. Iridessa let out the breath she'd been holding, and left the house. 

After some time spent weeding and straightening the seedlings, she turned her focus to the shed. The still had been running for some time now, and while she hadn't made a great profit from her efforts, she had been able to buy a few things, mostly just upgrades to her solar power setup, and a new filtration device for her well. 

She filled bottle after bottle of shine, the liquor running clearer than her tap. She'd have to keep some for herself. 

Dess stored all but two bottles, wiggling her fingers over the door and murmuring soft words. The bolt on the inside slid into place, and she headed back into the house to set about cooking a meal.

—x—

Machine gun rounds hammered the ground as he ran, missing entirely. The Titan was a terrible shot. Rook summoned a massive hammer of solar energy, bringing it down on him and landing a solid kill. He turned, quickly knocking a Warlock off her feet. She landed hard, and he lifted the hammer again, delivering a second killing blow before his focus was lost and the hammer vanished. 

Bishop conjured his auto rifle to his hands as he charged towards the sounds of further combat. 

_Boom!_

A void rocket exploded at Rook's feet just as he turned the corner, taking out three other Guardians along with him.

He rezzed back at the starting point, swearing as the the kill tracker reset on his HUD. The timer buzzed, and Lord Shaxx's words of encouragement fell on deaf ears as he transmatted back to the lobby.

Fifth out of twelve.

He grumbled all the way back to the showers. Most of the Guardians from his first matches had called it quits long before this one, but he hadn't had much to do since apparently all was fairly quiet in the system. As such, he was the only Guardian in the showers. Until Alethia showed up. Again.

He let the scalding water beat down on his back and shoulders as she leaned on the dividing wall from the other side, her head resting on her crossed arms.

Rook grunted a hello at her before snatching up a bar of soap and scrubbing away the dirt and sweat.

"Someone's grumpy," she said lightly, watching his hands as they worked over the planes and grooves of his body. 

"You saw the scores," he grumbled.

She hummed. "Wanna go back to my place when you're finished here? You can work out some of your frustrations." The seductive lilt of her voice set aside his anger, replacing it with something far more potent. She watched as his body responded, and smirked in satisfaction.

Game on.

—x—

Indi-3 swirled the concoction in the canister before him. He never cared for beer. The taste was unpleasant. The music kicked up in tempo to a faster paced number. Isla tipped back her bottle, finishing it, and then grabbed Indi's hand. She dragged him out to the dance floor where she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his frame. She ground against him in time to the music.

Indi's head swam as she pressed against him. She was intoxicating on her own, even now. Hands roamed over firm curves and solid plates, and Isla's mouth skimmed over his face. Whispered invitations were made, and for a moment, all that existed in the universe was her hip against his groin, his hands up and down her back, and the familiarity creeping up his steel spine.

_Ara._

What about Ara?

Where was she? None of his messages had been answered. They had casual sex. Somewhat regularly, but nonetheless noncommittal.

_But she asked to stay._

Did that mean anything? It was entirely possible that she just hadn't wanted to walk back to the Tower that late at night. 

_She could have transmatted._

With a sly smile, Isla pulled Indi towards the back door of the bar. She moved past all the boxes to the street, and moved off in the direction of a small apartment building nearby, still gripping his arm and pulling him along.

And he let her.

—x—

Breath in. Breath out 

Ara loosed the arrow.

It soared through the air, silent and unmercifully towards the beating heart of the stag she had been waiting for for the last few hours. She chalked it up to luck. 

The arrow sank deep into the beast's chest, startling it at first as it jumped into the air before taking off in a mad dash for freedom. Ara streaked after it. The stag was much quicker than she, but fell shortly after she began pursuit. Fortunately, she saw it fall.

With hands that barely trembled, she gutted the creature quickly before grasping it by the ankles and dragging it back to the cottage. Once she was safely within sight of the house, she would begin the rest of the process. This fear she felt being alone out in the forest around the cottage was not entirely alien to her. It was not too long ago that they had all lost their Light, in Gaul's attack on the Traveler. Or maybe it actually had been a while? It was difficult for her to keep track of time; Guardians lived such long lives.

With effort, Ara used some borrowed rope to hang the stag in one of the few trees in the field, and set about her work. She was not far into skinning when Iridessa emerged from the house with a large basket full of cloth. 

"I didn't know you could hunt," she said, a great deal more cheery than she had been. Ara nodded. She didn't want to admit that she wasn't actually sure _how_ she knew to do these things, just that she did.

She stepped back, wiping the sweat from her brow on the back of her forearm. "You have been a gracious host, but I am not ignorant. I know that the past two days have seen your food stores whittle away quicker than normal. Until my Ghost wakes, or I can send a signal to the Tower that I am here, I should make myself useful."

Eyeing one another for a moment, the two women seemed to come to a silent understanding before returning to the stag. Quicker now that there was help, they skinned it together. Iridessa carried off the pelt, while Ara began separating the meat. Iridessa wrapped each cut in cloth before placing it back into the basket. The beast required several trips for all the meat it held.

"Keep the bones," Iridessa instructed, huffing as she lifted the heavy basket. Ara raised a brow. "I'll find a use for them." She headed back into the house, and Ara cut away cartilage, stacking bones in a neat pile at the base of the tree until Iridessa was able to clean them.

Satisfied, Ara went to the well and pumped some clean water to rinse off her hands and blade before going back into the house, where Iridessa was dividing the meat into different stacks.

"How are you going to save all of this?" Ara asked, suddenly realizing that this was entirely too much meat for two people, let alone one person, to eat in a few days' time.

Iridessa looked over it all, spread across her countertop and table, in her sink, and on her stove. "I've got a small smoker out back, and I know how to salt-cure some of it. Honestly, this is more meat than I've had in the last two months, and I'm not sure if I _can_ store it all."

"I'm sorry," Ara said gently. "I didn't mean to burden you with more than you can handle." Iridessa waved her off.

"I've got a freezer out back I haven't been able to keep full. It's hooked up to my solar grid, like the fridge. We can freeze what we don't smoke and salt. But tonight, we're going to feast." Eyes alight, she set to work.

For the first time in three days, Ara felt pride in something as she watched Iridessa's skilled hands slice and separate the meat into cuts. 

In the corner of the room, nestled amongst a pocket watch and an envelope, a light flickered.

—x—

Isla's whole body shook as she rode out her orgasm. Her hands balled into fists on his chest, hair falling in a curtain on one side of her face as she ground her hips against him. Her body stilled, and a pregnant pause followed as she collected herself before easing back to sit up straight.

Her chest heaved. Indi's hands moved from ber hips to her thighs on either side of his body. She rolled off him, content again for now, and he moved from the bed. Littered along her floor were piles upon piles of clothes, boxes containing all sorts of Light knows what interspersed with them. He picked his way along to the bathroom to clean himself of her.

Her bathroom was equally messy. Against the tub, an ever-growing pile of clothing rested. On the sink, a dozen bottles littered the surface. He picked up a few. They were so light, they couldn't have been even halfway full. Indi shook his head and searched for a wash cloth.

Isla watched him from the doorway, leaning against the frame. "Wanna go for another round later?" He shook his head, soaping up the rag and beginning to meticulously scrub the base of his synthetic cock.

"I've got to get back to the Tower. I haven't heard from Ara in four days, and I need to see if Rook has," he said. He moved in small circles, moving out towards the tip and making sure to pay extra attention to the textured areas where her cum would have probably dried.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "You're worried about the warlock? She's probably off with her nose stuck in a book somewhere, being boring. The excitement is right here." She wrapped her arms around his waist.

Indi rinsed the cloth before returning to his body to wipe away the soap. "This isn't like her." Isla huffed and stalked back out of the bathroom to flip down on the bed. He emerged a moment later and picked his clothes out of the mess that hers made all over the place. "I have to make sure she's okay."

"Fine. Go get your Warlock. When she turns out to be perfectly fine and you were worried for nothing, I won't be here."

Indi nodded before heading out the door. This had been a mistake. He had known it before she even took her clothes off. He flicked his wrist, Sol appearing before him. She made a sound that mimicked yawning, stretching all the points of her shell. "Are you finally ready to pay attention to me? I was rather enjoying my vacation." Indi chuckled, shaking his head again as he lowered his hand. She floated before his face. 

"Can you try to find Tavi?" he asked, exasperated. Sol's attention turned towards the ground. Her gleaming white shell reflected the sunset above the City wall as it jerked this way and that. Indi reached out and tipped her back up to look at him. "What is it?"

She stilled. "I've been _looking_ for Tavi, while you've been holed up." Indi froze, his false breath catching in his plasteel chest.

—x—

Rook's large hand wrapped around both of Alethia's arms behind her back. Her naked upper body pressed sharply against the countertop of the sink in the bathroom, the cold metal flush against her heated cheek. He slipped two fingers into her, drawing out a long moan from her throat when he spread them. His pants had merely been pushed out of the way after he'd stripped her. Gripping the base of his cock, he held it steady as he pressed into her smaller body. Her pussy stretched around him and she whined. He growled in satisfaction, giving a firm swat to her ass and watching as her flesh jiggled. She pulsed around him.

When he was fully hilted, the head of his cock pressed firmly against her cervix, her reached out and gripped a fistful of her hair, tugging her head back. In the mirror, her gaze met his. He gave a sharp thrust, driving a gasp from her as her eyes rolled back. The harder he pulled her hair as he fucked her, the tighter she squeezed around him. Rook tightened his grip on her arms, unconcerned about how his powerful hands might bruise her more delicate flesh.

She ground her hips back against him as his own hips slapped against her ass, sinking himself into her again and again. Alethia whined, her orgasm so close. A single stroke of his finger on her clit would surely make her explode...

He pulled away, denying her entirely before releasing her hair from his fist. He gripped her shoulder, using both it and her arms to pull her from the sink before grasping her hair again and forcing her to her knees. Wide, dark eyes stared up at him as he sank his cock into her mouth, pushing past her tongue for her throat. She struggled against her own gag reflex as he inched further in, until her nose burrowed into his curls. Her eyes watered.

She snaked her tongue out, licking at the base of his cock. He groaned and closed his eyes, his head ripping back as he began to thrust slowly in and out of the confines of her throat. She giggled. Rook's fingers tightened around her locks as she hummed, reaching up to massage him.

It didn't take long.

Just like the first time, he emptied himself into her mouth, pushing his cock as far into her throat as he could manage. She swallowed his load happily, easing her massage to a caress as he rocked against her. Finally he stopped jerking against her tongue, and with a satisfied sigh, he pulled out. She smirked, wiping away the spit on the back of her hand before standing. But Rook wasn't finished.

He swept her up into his arms and moved them both to the bed. He let her fall gently to the mattress, where she sat up and gently grasped his open pants and tugged him forward before pushing them down. He was still semi-hard, but nowhere near ready to fuck again. Instead, her fingers skimmed the sides of his thighs, up to his hips. He stripped the rest of the way, and she pressed kisses to his belly. A satisfied rumble echoed in his chest before he pushed her back on the mattress, lowering himself to his knees and pulling hers apart.

Rook's tongue slid over her glistening core, delving in for a taste. She gasped quietly, biting the back of her knuckle to quiet herself. His hand smacked the flesh of her thigh as he growled, and she immediately removed the offending obstruction. Good.

Dipping his fingers into her heated body, his tongue moved higher. She moaned loudly. Deftly, the pads of his fingers stroked her inner walls as he nipped and licked her clit, teasing her. When he found her sweet spot, she cried out, her fingers digging into the sheets. He gently nibbled the sensitive bundle under his mouth and she exploded in ecstasy, her voice ringing through the apartment. Rook licked gently, helping her ride out her orgasm as she ground her hips down on his fingers and tongue, curses and moans flying from her lips.

Finally she settled down, her walls no longer spasming around him. He took the time to lap at her sweetness, both cleaning and titillating her. She sighed contentedly when he leaned over her, pressing his mouth to hers in a kiss.

Their tongues danced, fingers skimming and gripping flesh as he lowered himself onto her much smaller body. Finally they parted, both breathing heavily.

"I like you," Alethia said with a grin, her short hair sticking out at odd angles both from his fingers and her head turning as he pleasured her. 

Rook nodded, his thumb brushing over her stiff nipple. She sucked in a breath. "I like you too." He lowered his head to her breast, rolling the small pebble between his teeth before running the wide flat of his tongue over it. She squeezed her thighs together. His hand snaked between them, rubbing circles on her clit as he sucked and licked her nipple until she moaned out his name, her body shuddering with another orgasm. 

Panting heavily, she looked down at him, still rolling her nipple and twirling her clit. When her legs quivered with the overstimulation, he slid his fingers down, running the length of her slit. Her voice was breathless as she spoke, "You know, I was honestly going to go back to my room after the match. And then I saw you go into the shower." Rook chuckled, diving back into her body with his fingers. "And for some reason, the only thing I cod think of was what you would taste like on the back of my tongue."

Rook's mouth moved up the column of her throat to nibble at her earlobe. She groaned, hips bucking against his hand. "And was it everything you thought it would be?" he asked. She nodded, sucking in a sharp breath as his thumb pressed down on her clit. Her eyes rolled back as she came, hands clawing at him. "You sound so good."

Finally hard again, he sat up, pushing her onto her side and lifting her thigh. He sank into her before moving her leg so that it lay in front of her, her calf held down to the bed by his wide palm. He cursed, her tightness gripping him as he slid against her. His eyes closed as her fingers closed around his wrist while he fucked her into the mattress.

The arm under her slid back, out from under her body and he closed his arm around her bicep, putting his weight on the two limbs he restrained. The leverage made his thrusts more powerful. He grunted with the effort, knowing his orgasm would take time. Time he was _more_ than willing to put in. And judging by the way she begged him not to stop, she was too.

"Fuck yes," he growled.

A fist pounded the front door of Rook's dwelling. They ignored it at first, but then it happened again. Rook snarled, pushing himself away from Alethia, who pouted as he pulled on pants and moved from the bedroom.

His anger subsided when he saw Indi-3 outside his door. "Have you heard from Ara?" he blurted out, without giving Rook time to even greet him.

Rook's brows furrowed. "I assumed she was studying, or with you off-world."

Indi shook his head, his purple irises alight with concern. "I haven't heard from her since we landed back at the Tower after the Hive on Mars. Rook frowned.

It had been nearly four days. Ara had gone off on binges before, but never for this long. 

"And you've checked the archives?" Indi nodded.

"Command hasn't heard from her since she took her jumpship. She was supposed to have headed to the EDZ, but Devrim Kay never saw a Warlock fitting her description. She hasn't checked in with anyone that we've had communication from." Indi looked past Rook, who turned and spotted Alethia as she poked her head out the door, sporting one of Rook's shirts. It draped off her small, plump frame, but Rook kind of liked the way she looked in it.

"And that's not all," Indi said, turning the Awoken's attention back to him. "Tavi's signal isn't being picked up anywhere in the system."

Room nodded, opening the door wider to let Indi in. "Let me get dressed." He approached Alethia, who moved out of the doorway into the bedroom. "I'm sorry, I have to go."

"Who's Ara?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his waist. He rested his chin on the top of her head.

"She's a Warlock. She, Indi-3, and I usually run missions together. She and I have known each other for decades." 

She nuzzled her face against him, fingers dancing along his spine. "Old girlfriend?" she asked nonchalantly. 

He made a noncommittal noise, pulling back from her a bit. "She doesn't really _do_ commitment. But if you mean have we had sex... yes." She stilled, her fingers moving around to his stomach. He frowned at her. "Is that a problem?"

"It's not something I'd be necessarily pleased with you continuing, if _we_ continue..." Alethia gestured between them. "...this." 

Rook nodded and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and stepped back to find clothes and light armor. She began gathering her clothes as well. "Will you be here when I return?"

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I'm coming _with you_." He turned away quickly then, hiding his smile as he dug through the drawers.

—x—

Ara tipped the jar back, letting the liquor burn a path all the way down to her stomach. They had lost track of time, drinking and talking and laughing, as though they were old friends. She was bewitched by the way the candles brought out the caramel strands in Iridessa's dark hair. 

Her strong hands took the jar from the Warlock's hand, tipping it back and swallowing a mouthful herself. She sat back in the chair, pulling the hem of her skirt up above her knees and stretching her bare feet out across the rug. Ara's curious nature, combined with the way her hormones raged when she drank, made for a potent combination.

"Are you always alone out here?" she asked. Iridessa tossed her head back, shaking her wild mane back from her shoulders. 

"Mostly. Sometimes I get company." Her eyes twined mischievously as she leaned forward. "And sometimes strangers come into my house uninvited." 

They stared at one another for several minutes. And then, suddenly their mouths met in a kiss. Sloppily, from the shine, their tongues explored one another's mouths as Iridessa moved to sit in Ara's lap. Her hands moved up into the human's skirt, grasping her ass as she fumbled with the closures of Ara's tunic. Finally, Dess freed Ara's breasts, baring them to her calloused hands. She broke the kiss with a giggle, looking down at the soft mounds in each hand. 

_Well I'll be damned,_ Dess thought. _They're blue too._


	4. Memory

Ara's head was absolutely splitting. Barely any light filtered through to where she lay, but still, it was enough. Stars above, this was torture.

She buried her face in the pillow in her arms as the figure pressed against her back shifted and their arm draped over her waist. She sighed contentedly, and settled back against she soft body behind her, as the arm tightened around her. Her partner's breasts pressed against Ara's shoulderblades as she nuzzled her face into Ara's neck. A cool breeze crept over her naked form.

Wait. Why was she naked?

Ara's eyes snapped open despite her agonizing headache and moved away from the bed. Iridessa, startled awake, sat up. Her eyes moved from Ara's naked form to her own and then back before she snatched at the blankets.

"What happened?" Ara whispered. Iridessa bit her lip, confusion etched on her face.

"I honestly don't remember."

—x—

"Her jumpship is still orbiting Earth, so that's probably the best place to start." Alethia's voice rang through the comms network straight to Indi and Rook. 

Mission Control chimed in a moment later, in a lyrical voice, "Until we have proof otherwise, this is considered a search and rescue mission. Bring her home, and stay safe out there, Guardians."

"Yes, Ma'am," Bishop said crisply, hovering in the cockpit next to Rook. All three Guardians transmatted down to the surface, just outside the Cathedral where Devrim Kay took up residence.

"What are we doing here?" Indi asked. "She never checked in with Devrim."

"Even though she didn't check in, it doesn't mean she wasn't here," Alethia said gently. "This gives us a solid starting point. Now, why would she have come to the EDZ?"

Both Rook and Indi made to speak at the same time, but the Awoken was just a little bit faster. "Relics. She would have been looking for relics from the surrounding structures."

"There's a small collection of old buildings not far from here," Sol chirped. "We should start there."

—x—

Ara tugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders, absolutely certain that Iridessa was truly mad. She claimed that she could unlock memories hidden in the mind. _Sorcery _she called it.__

It sounded suspiciously like magic, and only the Hive were capable of that. Ara felt extremely stupid for not pondering how Iridessa could make things grow, in the middle of winter in the EDZ. Even if it _was_ an extremely mild season compared to historical accounts of the past. 

"How do I know I can trust you?" she asked. "I've known you all of three days." 

Iridessa shrugged. "If you don't want to know, that's perfectly fine. But _I_ do." She moved from the bed, the sheet wrapped tightly around her form. 

But the proposition was too tempting for Ara's scholarly disposition. She reached out, blue fingers grasping the other woman's pale wrist. "Wait." Iridessa turned halfway. 

"I'll prepare the herbs. It's much easier if we are both relaxed."

Some time later, both women sat once more on the bed, having inhaled some herbal mixture that Iridessa had wrapped in thin paper. Ara had needed to inhale much more of the smoke than the human. However both were now splayed back against the pillows contentedly. Iridessa grasped Ara's hand in her own, entwining their fingers. 

At first, Ara felt nothing more than the fuzziness of her mind as the drugs flooded her system. The edges of her thoughts became hazy and abstract, ideas becoming a kaleidoscope that shifted and folded in on themselves. Her palm tingled pleasantly. The sensation traveled up her arm and all through her body before finally taking over her brain.

Ara gasped, suddenly thrust into darkness alleviated only by candle stubs close to burning out on the counter and table.

_Dess' lips traveled the column of her blue throat. She was naked now, splayed out on the bed while Dess trailed feather-light touches across her shimmering skin. Starlight danced across her flesh in wispy ribbons, and Dess chased them with tongue and teeth._

__

__

_Ara's deep purple locks, no longer bound by a sensible braid, stretched a tangled river above the pillow cradling her head. She looked through half-lidded eyes at the human whose dark gaze held her own as her tongue came to one indigo nipple, flicking it openly with her pink tongue. Ara's head tipped back, hips bucking. Lips enclosed the sensitive nub, and Dess sucked hard, pulling a long moan from the Awoken. She chuckled._

_Dess slipped her hand between the blue woman's thighs, fingertips dancing along the quivering, dripping slit. Her own wet sex ground against Ara's hip. Finally, slowly, she inched her finger in, flicking her tongue harshly against the nipple between her teeth. Each inch and lash earned her a cry until finally, she felt the rough patch that was her goal. Stroking it with her middle finger, she stretched out her thumb towards Ara's clit._

_The pad of her thumb moved slowly, tormenting the small bud as she ran her finger back and forth inside of the woman beneath her. Dess continued the hard lashes with her tongue, watching as Ara's glowing blue irises finally disappeared fully behind her eyelids. Her hips moved of their own accord, seeking release despite the inclination of her tormentor to draw out the pleasure. Dess, too imbibed to have total control, paid no attention until Ara's pussy squeezed her finger, pulsing wildly as her glowing eyes snapped open again and wrenching a moan from her throat. She ground harder against the Lightbearer's hip, feeling her own release not far away._

_But Ara had other plans._

_She rolled, pinning Dess between the bed and her own body, pressing her mouth to the full-lipped smirk of the human. Reaching down, she pushed open the woman's thick thighs and slotted herself between them, feeling her hot sex against her mound. She ground against the Dess' clit, and she tipped her head back in a gasp. The Awoken tossed her long hair off to one side, kissing her way down the pale, plump body beneath her._

_Ara trailed her tongue around the human's clit, eliciting a muffled sound as Dess pressed the heel of her palm against her lips._

No matter, _she thought, smiling to herself as she dragged the flat of her tongue over the small pink bud. The Warlock sank a finger into the heat under her tongue. The hips beneath her bucked, payback for her earlier actions. But Ara was stronger than the human, and pinned her down to the bed with the other arm. Dess groaned, her walls snatching at the intrusion._

_Oh?_

_Ara raised and looked around before snatching at a scarf just off to the side of the bed. Quickly, with skill learned from years on the battlefield, she secured the Dess' wrists to the headboard. The knot was messy, and could come loose easily, but Ara was drunk on both sex and liquor, and Dess responded well to the restraints. She tugged at them weakly as the Awoken returned to her dripping pussy._

_Instead of dipping back into her body with her fingers, Ara delved in with tongue, pushing her thighs upwards and apart, opening Dess' entire center. Dess struggled against the stronger woman, her arousal growing with every failed attempt to escape._

_Ara's tongue wasn't enough, wasn't_ nearly _enough, and Dess screamed out in frustrated pleasure as the Awoken took her time. Ara savored the strong tang of Dess' juices under her tongue, dragging out the torment. Finally, Dess snapped, begging pathetically for Ara to take mercy on her. The Awoken grinned._

_"You want to cum?" she asked, releasing one thigh only to pin it to the bed with her knee. She giggled when Dess nodded, sinking her second and third fingers into the woman's body. Her dark eyes opened wide with the intrusion as a strangled half-scream slipped free. She pulsed around the Awoken but didn't cum, the sudden pain having driven her back from the edge just enough._

_Ara lowered herself again, pressing her tongue firmly against the woman's swollen clit before pulling it between her lips to suck gently. She thrust her fingers in and out of Dess' body, tapping the sensitive bundle with her tongue even as she kept it sucked into her mouth. Dess' free thigh only moved further away, widening the gap in which Ara worked._

_Dess tumbled over the edge with a throaty scream, her entire body shuddering while Ara rubbed her tongue back and forth over Dess' too-tender bud. With each pass, her hips jerked and her walls clenched. Her free thigh snapped against Ara's face with a loud slap. The overstimulation caused her to try in vain to wrench free, her thigh desperately rubbing at the figure delivering such brutality. When Ara had had enough, she clapped her palm to the meaty extremity and forced it back to the bed._

_Dess struggled to breathe, drowning in too great a pleasure. Her body quivered uncontrollably. She begged Ara to stop._

_Ara did not, instead doubling her efforts._

_Dess plummeted over a previously unheard of edge. Blinding stars exploded in her sight. Her wrists ached from the taut scarf as she fought it. Some long, low, guttural,_ animal _sound bled into her eardrums. Only when Ara stopped, and the sensations finally faded did she realize it was her making the noise._

_The Awoken set back on her knees, licking her lips. "It's been a long time since I had someone squirt like that." Dess' head spun. Her body, weak, now slumped entirely into the bed. Ara reached out, gripped one end of the scarf, and tugged._

_The whole, messy knot came undone. Dess entertained the thought of paying back the Lightbearer. But even the effort of merely lifting her arm was too great. She tumbled into unconsciousness as the Lightbearer's chuckle echoed in her ears._

Sweat tickled it's way down Ara's brow as her chest heaved. Her hand balled into a fist as her other hand gripped the fingers of the human next to her tightly. Thighs rubbing together, the budding arousal between them slicking the motion, Ara gasped.

Next to her, Iridessa didn't fair much better, her free hand having slipped down to tease and twirl her clit. A heated moan passed between her lips just before her eyes opened. She looked over, seeing the Lightbearer's astounded gaze already trained on her. 

She snatched her hand away, rolling off of the bed and re-wrapping the sheet around her body.

"So you like being tied up?" Ara asked lightly. Iridessa blushed deeply, looking away.

"So I do," she muttered. The Lightbearer chuckled again, laying back on the sex-scented sheets. 

Suddenly, from across the house, a sharp, metallic chirp sounded through the air. Ara leapt from the bed, her sheet forgotten. An unseen force lifted the Ghost on the table in the corner into the air. His blue eye lit up as his shell twisted and turned jerkily, as though he were gathering his bearings.

Ara approached slowly, body low to the ground. "Tavi?"

"A...ra? What... happened?" He looked around slowly, his shell slumping slightly. "Where are we?"

Ara laughed, a full-bodied, relieved sound that left her with misty eyes and a heart that soared. "Thank the Light..." She wiped her eyes, and gently pulled him into her shaking grasp.

"I still don't understand," Tavi said, his voice slightly staticky. It concerned her, but she would have it checked at the Tower.

"We were ambushed." Ara's voice was shaky. "In the apartment complex. You were hit."

Tavi spun slowly, scanning small things around him to test his abilities. "How did I survive?"

The Awoken finally collapsed onto the rug. "Because the Cabal are terrible shots."

Tavi make a whirring sound, musical like a laugh. "Clearly not a Psion, then." He nudged her cheek with the dented corner of his shell. She stared at it, the guilt threatening to overwhelm her again. "Hey," he said softly. "We're okay. We made it."

"Yeah," she sniffed. "We did."

—x—

After several hours combing through streets of the nearby town, a crackle came across the comms feed. Indi froze, turning to stare at the Titan's hulking form through the visor of his helmet.

"Fireteam?" they heard. "Are you there?"

"Tavi!" Sol exclaimed. Gold and white materialized in front of Indi's helmet. Her shell twitched and spun erratically for but a moment before she began zooming around the three of them wildly. "Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi Tavi! I'm so _glad_ to hear from you!"

From the other side of Rook, Indi heard Alethia chuckle. "Is she always this hyper?"

"Only when she's swake," Indi replied. "Thankfully she does, occasionally, sleep."

"What is your location?" Rook asked into the comms network.

"It's kind of hard to explain." Ara's voice was overlaid with thick static. "We aren't entirely sure where exactly we are. If we set a signal beacon, can you follow it?"

"Absolutely. Set your beacon. We'll be there shortly. Fireteam out." Rook flicked his wrist and conjured Bishop, who quickly set to work scanning. 

Alethia summoned her own ghost. "I'll alert Control that we've located our missing Guardian. I'm sure the Vanguard will be glad to hear it."

Indi continued to watch Sol race in and around the three Guardians, over the moon with the way the day turned out. In truth, his own polymer pump soared when he heard Ara's voice on the other end of the network. He would be even more glad to hold her in his sight.

"I've got the signal," Rook finally said, and the three ghosts dissipated for safety as the fireteam made it's way slowly to the beacon. 

—x—

Ara wrung her hands as Tavi flitted around the room. He transmatted a spoon away, then brought it back. Practicing. Finally, he brought forth a submachine gun, the cool metal sliding into Ara's gloves as it materialized.

Iridessa stood by the open door, shawl pulled tightly around her shoulders over her plain blue dress. Ara looked at her. "You could come with us," she said quietly. "To the Last Safe City. You wouldn't have to worry about your next meal. And we have farmland, if you wanted to keep doing that."

_Iridessa shook her head. "I'm free out here. And... what would the people of the City think once they knew what I could do? What would your Vanguard do?"_

__

__

She wasn't entirely wrong to worry. While Eris Morn had never been outright cast out by the Vanguard... Her use of Hive magic made most leery in her presence. 

Though, that may have been the eyes.

The Warlock nodded, unsure what to say. Instead, she slipped past Iridessa out into the sunlight. 

"Lightbearer..." Ara stopped. "If you ever find yourself this far away from home again... I wouldn't object to you invading my home again."

Ara smiled, but made no promises before heading across the field and into the woods, towards the coordinates Tavi had selected for the rendezvous. "I want you to stay out of sight until we're safely on the jumpship, okay?"

Tavi dissipated, folding himself into her Light as they crossed into the treeline. She gripped her machine gun tightly, keeping low to the ground. Her footsteps crunched the undergrowth very lightly as she crept from tree to tree, keeping a close eye on the radar in the corner of ber HUD. Her breaths came quickly, nearly fogging her visor. She had to make a conscious effort to slow them.

Finally, she reached the beacon. She crouched down low, planting her boots into the ground and trading out her machine gun for her bow.

Heavy, skittering footfalls approached from the south. That was not her fireteam. She turned, nocking an arrow. 

"I count two Dregs," Tavi said softly, his voice echoing in her ear. "Nothing you haven't faced a thousand times before." Their Ether masks came into view, and she drew back.

Breath in.

Seeming to sense her presence, they slowed, shuffling off to the side. One moved directly into her line of sight, still having not seen her yet. Ara put her sight right in the middle of its forehead.

Breath out.

The Dreg slumped to the ground. His hand squeezed the trigger, however, firing off a blast. It went wide, not anywhere near her. She still jumped, rustling the underbrush. The other Dreg zeroed in on her, firing in her direction. She took a shot to the shoulder, and froze.

"Move!" Tavi barked. 

The Dreg fired again. She was already rolling out of the way, heading behind the next hearest tree. He continued firing, the shots only barely missing her. She rose quickly and pressed against the bark of the tree. The underbrush rustled as he skittered for cover as well. She nocked another arrow and peered around the tree at the same time as the Dreg. He fited off a shot and she ducked back behind the tree.

She breathed slowly, deeply, and then swung around, training her sight on the place she'd seen his head pop out the first time. He moved, and she released.

A soft wet _thunk_ ended the skirmish.

"Good eye," Ara heard behind her. She turned to see Rook and Indi and...

"Thanks," she replied, stowing her bow. She stuck out her gloved hand. The Guardian shook it. "I'm Ara."

"Alethia," she said brightly.

Indi moved closer. "What happened?"

Ara flicked her wrist, conjuring a nervous Tavi to float over her palm, the impressive dent in his shell even more obvious in the natural light of the forest. Alethia whistled lightly, resting her hands on her hips and leaning to get a better look. Tavi looked between the two women. 

Alethia nodded. "You're one lucky Light, little Ghost." 

She stepped back as Sol materialized and began flitting around him, scanning him from every angle. "You seem to be functioning adequately. Can you transmat?"

_Tavi's shell twitched. "Objects, yes. But..."_

"He hasn't tried to transmat me yet," Ara supplied. "Do you think you could...?"

Sol flipped in the air, shell turning this way and that excitedly. "I will standby for support!"

Tavi turned to Ara. They shared a nervous moment of quiet as he expanded and contracted his shell, as though stretching. She nodded. 

The transmat took a few seconds longer than usual, as Tavi wanted to ensure the safety of his Guardian. When Ara fully formed in the cockpit of her jumpship, she breathed a small sigh of relief. Her entire body tingled the way a limb often does when it falls asleep, which for her was a normal side effect of transmat. She had never thought to ask if it was normal for anyone else.

"How is everything up there?" Sol's cheery tone rang through comms.

Ara took the pilots seat, proceeding to flip switches and press buttons that brought the ship to life, whirring and creaking with age. "Everything is good," she responded happily. "We have arrived safely." She looked at Tavi, now hovering next to her. "Let's get you to the Tower for a thorough examination. And then let's get you a snappy new shell, yeah?"

Tavi drooped. "But I _like_ this shell."

"I think we both need a change, buddy," Ara said gently. Tavi moved in, bumping her shoulder gently.

"Only if you promise to finally get a new ship. This one sounds like it's about to fall apart."

Ara grinned. "Deal." Then, after a moment, her voice was softer. "Tavi...?" she asked. 

He swung around to look at her. "Yes, Guardian?"

"Do you dream?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a ridiculously long time to edit. But that may have been my fault for trying to italicize such a large chunk of text.  
> ( × . ×")


	5. Tannenbaum

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if I actually _need_ to, but CW for futanari ahead. Since I update the tags as I add chapters, some folks may not pay attention to them if they've read here before. So as I go, I'll post content warnings for some of the things that I think people may want a heads up about. As for the Futa, she's at the end of the chapter. So you can at least get through most of it without her, if you like. And if she's the _only_ reason you're here, well... this probably isn't the fic you're looking for, but feel free to stick around! She'll be back in at least one other chapter, so if you bookmark/save/whatever your browser does, you can maybe get something closer to what you want later.  
> (I had originally intended to have Indi-3's ex be a futa, buuuuuuuut I wanted a likeable character. And I hope y'all like her.)

She was avoiding him.

Not exactly avoiding _him_ , so much as really avoiding _everyone_. Ara didn't want to go on missions, she didn't want to do Strikes... And she never did Crucible anyway, which suited Indi just fine. But she hadn't been by his apartment, either.

And casual sex or not, Indi _missed_ her. His dreams had been more vivid, more entrancing, more _real_ to him without her there. They were driving him insane, leaving him wide awake and gasping as if he _needed_ the air he breathed for anything more than an additional cooling system. 

He wandered the Tower, moving through its bustling corridors until he came to the door he knew belonged to her. He wanted to knock... 

No, he wanted to throw open the door, fold her into his frame, and keep her there. He _settled_ for rapping his gloved knuckles against the steel.

Nothing happened, and for a long minute, Indi thought nothing would. And then, just as he moved to walk away, he heard light footsteps just on the other side of the door. The knob twisted, and there stood Ara, disheveled in an oversized tshirt. Her long violet locks hung loose behind her shoulders with only the top portion pulled back out of her face. Her bright blue eyes were deeply shadowed.

Surprised, but not disappointed, she said, "Indi! I'm sorry, I thought you were my pizza." He frowned at her, the small faceplates adjusting themselves in a semblance of the facial expression.

"Do you often greet pizza delivery frames like this?" he asked. She looked down, seeming not to have realized that the tshirt only barely covered her, leaving everything from her creamy blue thighs down, completely exposed.

Nevertheless, she shrugged. His new expression, whatever it was that he'd made subconsciously, brought a long-awaited smile to her lips. He wanted those lips... wanted them everywhere his mystery woman's had been in his nightly hauntings.

"What's the matter? Afraid one of them will be a secret sex bot?" she teased. He was dumbfounded, unsure how to respond. But she merely giggled and pulled him into her apartment.

He stilled. Her kitchen table was entirely overrun with maps, open books, old tomes, and two different devices creating holographic pages above them. What the Light was going on here?

He spotted something on the counter. A sheet of paper, yellowed with age, had been unfolded. He approached slowly and lifted them as Ara returned to her spread.

It was a letter. He lifted it, glancing over without really reading, though some things still jumped out at him. 

_...never agreed..._

_...you want stability..._

_...our last night together..._

He moved to set the letter aside, but something shiny and gold caught his eye. It was some kind of key, double-sided, with teeth on both sides. Something about it made him uneasy. 

He moved away from the counter, stepping instead closer to Ara. "Well-oiled machine in the middle of your kitchen, and you only have eyes for books." He made a sound like clicking is tongue. "For shame." He swiped her long hair over her shoulder, leaning in and pressing his face against her neck. She chuckled and rolled her eyes, moving just far enough away to look at him.

"This is important, Indi. I know it. I can _feel_ it." She gathered her hair in both hands on one side of her body, twisting it idly as her bright blue eyes danced from screen to page to page to screen. 

Impatient, and with a suddenness even he was surprised by, he pulled her from the chair, lifting her completely off her feet and swinging her up onto the counter. He planted himself firmly between her thighs and pulled her face close to his. "I'd much rather you feel me, and let me feel you." His gloved hands moved down her soft sides, down to her wide hips where they met her thick thighs around his waist. They dipped under her oversized shirt, finding supple flesh to squeeze and knead. She let out a contented sigh as his fingers pressed into the tight muscles of her back and rubbed some of the tension away.

She let her hands drift over his clothes, unsnapping, unbuckling, unzipping as they went to reveal chrome and black silicone. His chest and stomach may have been hard metal, but his sides and shoulders were primarily the same soft-but-sturdy material as his cock, but without the firmament of its core, allowing for some semblance of human feeling flesh. His neck also consisted of this material, and gingerly she pressed her teeth into it, giving a playful bite.

Indi's entire body jerked, and he groaned deeply, leaning into her. "Do that again," he rasped. With fingertips digging into semi-pliant sides, she bit down a bit harder higher up on his neck, just below where the silicone gave way to hard metal plating. "Stars above, that feels good..."

It was more than just the physical. Having spent the better part of two days searching the EDZ for Ara, praying that they wouldn't find a corpse, a craving had built inside him. He savored the feel of her curves beneath his palms, her breath ghosting across his plates, and the melodic hums of her throat when he found the places she most liked having him touch. And so, when she returned the favor, letting her teeth catch him off guard, he nearly came unbolted. 

With hand splayed out across her back, he found himself moaning into her shoulder as he pulled her close. She had his upper half bared, but it wasn't enough, even as she dropped to his waistband and began unsnapping everything there. He needed her warmth _closer_.

Indi's hands slipped down and dove into the waistband of her panties before pulling apart and tearing the offending garment from her body. She gasped, leaning back away from him even as his now-loose pants slipped down his thighs ever slightly. He tugged the cloth free, pulling her hips forward and bumping her entrance with the head of his shaft. "Ara, please..."

"You're buying me new ones," she warned, resting her hands on his sides again.

He groaned. "I'll buy you all the underwear you want, Ara, just please let me fuck you." She giggled, moving her lips to the other side of his neck, pressing soft kisses against his faceplates before moving down to the softer silicone. When he felt her teeth sink in, he bucked against her, dipping slightly into her body. She moaned softly and bit down harder. He took it, pushing into her slowly so as not to hurt her, even as her teeth drove him insane with the desire to bury himself to the hilt.

After a few slow, experimental thrusts, he upped the tempo. She threw back her head, gasping for air, luminous eyes closed tightly against the sensations. Moving one hand to his shoulder, she leaned back on the other one on the counter. His fingers dug into her pale blue hips hard enough to bruise.

Her orgasm hit fast and unexpectedly. She cried out, her body bearing down on his even as he continued to move against her. His hips slammed against hers, the sound echoing through the flat, Ara leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him tightly for an anchor as her body continued to unravel. Indi gripped her body, holding her in place as his cock deeply pounded into her. His desire, frustration, and fear all rolled and twisted together. Indi's tenuous grasp on his strength slipped, and he fucked her roughly She bit down harshly on the silicone flesh of his neck again, on the other side and closer to his shoulder plates, using him as a bit to keep from screaming. His entire frame seized suddenly. 

He let out a sound somewhere between surprise and torment and pleasure. Her fingers gripped the base of his neck and she watched the purple of his optical sensors flare, nearly taking over his eyes before cutting out for a half-second. Indi slumped against her, chrome chest heaving.

Her own chest rose and fell quickly, her heart hammering the back of her ribcage. "Wait, did... did you just _cum_?"

It took him a while to answer. Truthfully, he wasn't entirely sure. He'd done _something_ , but since his body didn't expel fluids like a biological creature... Did that count as an orgasm? He hadn't done that before now, at least, not in this cycle. 

"Yeah," he murmured against her breasts. "I think I did."

—x—

Dess padded along the forest path, away from the shadow of the shard of the Traveler. Behinder her, she tugged a small cart stocked with a dozen or so jars of shine, the glasses clinking ever so softly as the evening breeze rustled the branches overhead. She tugged her thick wrap tighter around her shoulders, keeping an ear out for rustling in the underbrush. 

She had left the homestead a great deal later than she had intended to, but should have been close to her usual halfway point between home and the city of Tannenbaum, a human collective comparable to the Last City by designation only. It was not nearly so grand or so well-fortified, but being farther away from the Traveler and its shard than other, smaller settlements, was less prone to attacks.

Dess rather disliked Tannenbaum. It was dingy and dirty, overcrowded with people scavenging and scraping to get by. They traded mostly, in items or gear or guns. But shine always went over well with the men of the city. Lightbearers too, sometimes. Although they more often wanted to pay her in Glimmer, which was all but useless to her.

A small clearing came into view and Dess moved off to it, throwing aside her wrap and setting about a fire. Once it was sufficiently burning, she quickly made camp with her small tent, unrolling the sleeping mat inside and stowing the valuable liquor in the back, away from the flames. She stoked the flames into the night, letting their captivating dance lull her into tiredness.

Early in the morning, she rose, packed away her things, and finished her walk to Tannenbaum.

It sat in the midst of massively overgrown evergreen trees, its tall wooden walls dwarfed by the great greenery. On approach, rooftops could be seen peeking out over the structure, stark white against a lush green background. The gates weren't open, but two guards stood outside in heavy armor, each one wielding some sort of rifle. They gave her cart a cursory search before the taller of the two thumped his fist on the gate. It swung open to allow her entry.

It was a short walk from the front gate to the market. Traders of all sorts of goods and services gathered here. Dess headed to one in particular, a slight man with a thin moustache who often supplied the local taverns with liquor. She knew that he watered down the supply she gave him, but as long as she got what she needed, she didn't really give a Psion's ass what he did.

He grinned as he watched her approach, his perfect white smile catching the sunlight. It had never charmed Dess. "Ah, the effervescent beauty returns!" He leaned forward on his elbows on the counter that separated his stall from the rest of the street, and laced his fingers.

"Rourke," she replied stiffly. Dess pulled her small cart to her side. "I've got six jars." She eyed him expectantly. 

He looked down at his own clasped hands, refusing to meet her gaze. "I don't have it today," he said. "Maybe next week—"

"The deal wasn't for next week, Rourke. It was for this week. We agreed, twenty jars of shine and you'd get it for me. I've paid in full. You don't get a single jar more from me until that sparrow is in my possession." Dess moved her cart to walk away. Rourke reached out and grabbed her wrist tightly. She looked down at his hand, eyebrow raised. "If you want to keep those fingers, you'll get them off of me."

Rourke looked from side to side, then leaned forward, his voice lowered. "I've got a couple of sparrows tucked away somewhere safe. I just can't bring one to you right now. They're kind of hot."

Dess narrowed her gaze. "I don't buy stolen goods."

He barked a laugh at her. "They aren't stolen, don't you worry. I paid for them fair and square. They're hot because I bought them from a couple of Guardians who passed through here a while back. They're Vanguard-issue. Need a paint job so they're not so obvious. And they're way too fast for anyone that can die."

She shook her head and sighed. "Next week is too late."

"Alright, alright alright," he snipped. "Fine." He crossed his arms. "I can give it to you without the limiter installed, since I don't think you're going to go racing the damn thing around the woods. But I won't let you have it until it's painted. Two days, and it's yours."

Dess thought it over, then pulled a jar of shine from under the blanket. "Get me extra fuel. And I'll need a way to transport my things home." He snatched it from the counter before nodding. "Two days."

"Two days."

—x—

Honey-colored hair tickled his cheeks and nose as bright blue eyes stared down into his. Sharp nails dug into the flat planes of his chest as she gasped, hips rocking against him. Her eyes closed and she threw her head back, the sun splashing over the soft features of her face. He bucked against her, feeling his cock jerk wildly inside of her, spilling into her.

She said something, but it was muffled. He couldn't quite understand—

Indi awoke with a start, his hands outstretched above him. But she wasn't there. She never was.

Ara mumbled something in her sleep and rolled, reaching out for him. He slipped his arm into her delicate grasp and she stilled. Her face was so peaceful, so beautiful like this. Indi admired her naked form laying next to him as he propped himself up on one elbow. 

He let his steel fingers slip across the planes of Ara's back, following her dips and curves and rolls. Along her hips, just above her buttocks, lighter blue streaks shot across her skin in shallow grooves. 

He wondered idly about _her_ past. Was she haunted by lovers she couldn't recall? Did her mind torment her with their touch? Their smell? The way they breathed her name like a prayer?

He wanted desperately, suddenly, to have a mouth that could trace her flesh without his fear of harming her getting in the way.

She stirred beneath his fingers. Vibrant blue eyes fixed him with a sleepy stare as she rolled onto her back before a yawn overtook her face. Her entire body stretched, the muscles of her arms and legs tightening. He was sure that all of her muscles were, but her hips and belly were layered with soft fat that concealed them and smoothed out her shape.

Indi found that he rather preferred her squishy, jiggly form to that of Isla's. Not that there was anything wrong with Isla's toned body. But something about the way Ara's flesh gave way to his grip, the way his fingers dipped into it, was just so... _satisfying_.

Like coming home.

He shook his head, realizing how stupid that sounded, and realized that he had been gently squeezing and releasing her pale blue hip. She grabbed his hand when he pulled it away, leading it back to her hip. "Go ahead." But he suddenly wanted more. 

Indi pushed her thighs open with his legs before slotting himself between them and grasping her thighs in both of his hands and pushing them up towards her chest. Her hips raised slightly off the bed as he sank into her. She moaned softly, hands fisting in the sheets on either side of her body. It was a little too fast and he hadn't quite given her enough time to adjust. But when he pulled out to the tip before sliding back in slowly, she let out a long, low groan that told him she would be fine.

He kept his pace slow and steady, letting her body build up slowly towards her climax. Ara's hand slipped between them, her fingers spreading to feel either side of where their bodies met. Indi moved a little quicker, and her breaths came out in pants. She moved her fingers up to her clit.

She sailed over the edge shortly after, murmuring his name. He continued to thrust, dragging out her pleasure. But rather than attempt a repeat of what happened on the kitchen counter, when she came down from her high, he withdrew and lay beside her. Wrapping his chromatic arms around her soft, supple form, he pulled her close and nuzzled his face against the back of her neck. She sighed contentedly.

"Aren't you going to finish?" Ara asked softly after a moment.

Indi hummed lightly. "Maybe tomorrow." He didnt want to admit that he didn't actually know if he _could_ do it again.

Ara laced her fingers with his, her smaller hand folded over the back of his as he pressed his palm against the place where he supposed her womb would be. He assumed Awoken anatomy was the same as a human's. And he imagined that he might have laid like this with the mystery blonde from his dreams. Perhaps even felt her body change, leaving marks similar to those along Ara's hips and lower belly. 

Indi tried to push those thoughts away, knowing he would never really be sure. 

—x—

Dess hadn't planned on staying more than a single night in Tannenbaum. But once she had the sparrow, her day-and-a-half journey on foot would no longer be necessary.

Having wound through the rest of the stalls, she finally came to her destination. Standing behind the warped board that served as a counter were two women. She approached, and the older of the two broke into a wide smile. 

She was fairly tall, with dark hair and a darker complexion, and dressed in the brightest colors to be found this far out from the Last City. She came out from her stall and enveloped Dess in a hug. 

"Vera," Dess greeted, returning the hug before Vera pulled her into the stall. Behind a colorful tapestry, several fluffy pillows had been strewn about on a series of rugs. Dess took a seat while Vera moved out in front of the tapestry to ask her assistant to handle any customers, before coming back and sitting next to Dess.

"I have missed you greatly," Vera said, her bubbly smile lighting up her entire face. "What brings you back to town?"

Dispite Dess' trust, a gut feeling told her to keep the sparrow secret. While she knew Vera wouldn't say anything, the walls of the stalls were paper-thin, and anyone could be listening. "The usual. Trading for things I need back at home." She looked down at her hands in her lap, folded neatly. "I need a place to stay for a couple of days while some of my things get finished up."

Vera reached out, folding one of Dess' hands in her darker one. "You're always welcome in my home," she said. Dess met her gaze and she gave a wicked grin before leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to Dess' mouth. She pulled away just as her assistant popped around the tapestry.

"I'm sorry, I don't know if I can get this one. It's yellow, and much more complicated than any of them I've tried," she said. Vera rose and moved out to the front of the stall. 

Dess settled back in the mound of pillows, listening to the sounds of bartering patrons and merchants, as well as Vera showing her assistant how to deal with more complicated engrams. Before she knew what was happening, she drifted off to sleep.

Several hours later, Vera poked around the tapestry to see Dess still sleeping soundly. The stalls were all closing for the day, their owners putting up gates and boards to keep people out while they were gone. Vera's assistant came around her. "How long has she been asleep?" she asked softly.

Vera smiled. "A while. She doesn't usually sleep well when she's away from home, so when she dozes off here, I generally leave her be." She sent the assistant off for the evening with her earnings before dousing the small lamps om the pillow side of the tapestry and leaving only the two by the front. Still, she put up her gate. Vera returned to the sleeping figure at the back of her stall.

Gently, she shook her awake. Dess stretched, then yawned and rubbed her eyes groggily. Vera smiled. "It's evening, the stalls are closing. We need to get home." Dess nodded and, once Vera had locked the stall, the two women headed off.

"How have things been?" Vera asked. Dess shrugged.

"They've been fairly normal. I had an unexpected visitor for a couple of days, but nothing too out of the ordinary." She hoped that Vera won't ask about Ara. While she tolerated the Lightbearers who protected the town, she greatly disliked them and especially any Lightbearers from the Last City. 

She was fortunate. "I worry about you, out there all on your own," she said gently, taking Dess' hand in hers as her home came into view. 

It was larger than Dess', but still small, given the parameters that each resident of Tannenbaum had to work within. Most of the citizens had to live in community buildings. Merchants were allowed houses, as individual homes took up a great deal more land than the vertical buildings that could house hundreds of families.

"I couldn't stand to be piled up in one of those buildings," she said with a shudder. 

Vera laughed. "You would live with us, silly." She opened the door and stepped aside to allow Dess entry. 

The lower floor of the home was spacious, if a little cluttered at the moment. They passed through the livingroom to an archway that lead into the kitchen. A tall man with broad shoulders stood in front of the stove, shirtless and with loose pants hanging low around his hips. A kitchen towel was slung over his shoulder, stark white against the dark caramel of his form which was broken only by the angry red scratches that adorned his back. His dark hair was cropped short.

He did not turn when he heard the door shut, simply calling out to Vera, "Hello darling. Did you bring home anything interesting today?"

Vera grinned wickedly at Dess, who cleared her throat. "Only a wayward stranger." He turned, and, upon seeing Dess his gaze darkened. His prominent and obvious erection made her blush slightly. Clearly he had not been expecting her. "Hello, Orion," she greeted softly. 

Vera approached him, wrapping her arms around d his back and pressing kisses across his shoulderblades as she cupped him gently, stroking him over his pants. He had already set down the spoon he'd been stirring with. "Perhaps we can play together later?" she murmured, dipping her hand in to draw him out of his pants. 

His low voice came out as a rumble. "Perhaps we can play together now?" Vera shrugged.

"Dess?"

Dess had been watching the interaction, enraptured. The heat in her cheeks had long gone by now, spreading to her entire body and settling heavily in her lower belly. She could feel her own wetness escaping, made all the more heavy when Vera had pulled his cock free. Dess' feet carried her around the island to where the two stood. Orion gripped her arms and pulled Dess into a strong kiss that overpowered her, making her legs feel like jelly as Vera continued to stroke his cock from behind.

"On your knees, sweet," she said softly, and Dess sank to the floor when Orion released her. Vera held his cock steady, nodding encouragingly as Dess took his shaft into her mouth. Orion groaned, sinking his fingers into her long hair. Vera changed tactics, choosing instead to turn off the stove before moving away from them and undressing. Orion stroked Dess' cheekbones as she sucked, using her hand to stroke where her mouth could not reach. But his eyes moved from her to his wife's naked figure as she leaned against the counter, lazily stroking her own thick erection.

"It's so good to have our favorite girl home again, isn't it?" she asked breathlessly, moving her hand in time with the bobbing of Dess' head. 

Orion grunted in agreement. "Why don't you come over here and help me welcome her home properly?" Vera grinned and sank down behind Dess, unbuttoning her dress slowly as she continued to work Orion's thick cock. Once it had been unbuttoned to her waist, Vera pulled it down from her shoulders, baring her upper body. Dess pulled her arms through the sleeves and returned one of her hands to Orion's cock, while Vera snagged her other hand and led it behind her body, wrapping Dess' fingers around her own stiff member. 

Vera reached around her front, dipping her long fingers down into the skirts pooled in Dess' lap to find her clit, giving her pleasure as she and her husband both took their pleasure from her.

Dess moaned around Orion's cock stuffed in her mouth, grinding her hips against Vera's hand. "We've missed you so much, sweet," Vera breathed in her ear, quickening the strokes of Dess' hand. "We're going to have so much fun now that you're back." Dess' muffled moans only increased when Vera's fingers moved further south, sinking deeply into her snatch. Orion took the opportunity to sink his cock further into her mouth.

"Fuck yes we are," he rumbled gently, looking from Dess to Vera. She ran her tongue along the side of Dess' neck, causing the smaller woman to shudder, and her husband to growl appreciatively.

This was going to be a long couple of days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay in posting. I had a lot going on yesterday and never got to a place where I could post until I woke up today.


	6. Yes Sir, No Sir

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this has taken so long to get out to you guys. I had some medical stuff going on in my family for a couple of weeks and hadn't really had the chance to sit down and write. Then when I did, writer's block hit and it was just a whole mess. But I'll be posting what I can when I can as I continue to write. Feel free to leave kudos/comments, but just know that I appreciate y'all stopping by in the first place.

Machine guns rounds went off in quick succession, burst after burst after burst as Rook moved from one Thrall to another. He was surrounded. Moon dust kicked up around his feet as he jumped backwards when the next wave got just a _little_ too close and he fired at them quickly. Just as the last Thrall's ugly, gray body exploded with the force of his rounds, he heard an unearthly roar from behind him. Rook turned with only enough time to see a Knight's sword begin to come down on him and he froze, like some rookie just given his first bounty.

_Crack!_

The Knight's head exploded, sending blood and brain matter all over Rook's armor as the goliath fell to the ground in front of him.

Alethia's voice, slightly staticky, came through comms into his helmet. "I was starting to think I wasn't going to get a single kill on this mission."

His relief was as potent as it was quick, and he found himself searching the nearby structures for her small frame, despite the fact that he knew she'd be sprawled out. She would have picked a high enough vantage that no enemies would reach her, and she would have laid down, her gorgeous form sprawled out behind her sniper rifle.

"If I knew where you were I'd make you scream right there." His words had come out rushed, and a bit more threatening than he'd intended them to. 

But she giggled anyway and he caught movement above one of the buildings. He lifted a pair of binoculars and saw her poking her helmet out from behind her rifle, feet up in the air with her legs crossed at the ankles. She rocked them slowly as she looked down at him. "Back at the Tower, okay? The moon is just a bit too chilly for my tastes."

"Absolutely," he replied, his cock already beginning to stiffen. He heard the tell-tale sounds of a Hive ship manifesting above his location, and more Thralls hit the ground in front of him, snarling. Cock-blocking pieces of... He moved forward, with Alethia's deadly aim knocking foes to the ground ahead of him.

A short time later, they returned to Eris Morn with completed bounties in hand. She gave a cryptic and doom-laden warning as she transferred their glimmer. Rook thanked her, turning away and joined Alethia by the Tire Game. 

"I'm starving. You?" he asked, still a bit embarrassed by his earlier slip. 

She nodded, the motion stiff and subtle in her helmet. "Wanna head back to the Tower? I've got some telemetry data for Banshee-44."

Rook agreed. In truth, he felt a little off-kilter with her. Most of the time they spent together was filled with grunts and moans and cum. He still didn't know much about her other than her skills as a sniper and how her legs quivered when he sucked on her clit.

But actual conversation? Being on a fireteam? He was at a loss. 

He had been running with Indi-3 and Ara for so long that he had forgotten what it was like to take the time to get to know somebody. He pondered their situation as Earth came closer into view. 

When they docked at the Tower, he parted with Alethia, heading to his quarters to change. Bishop had kindly removed the Hive muck from his armor, but he needed a shower and an actual change of clothes before they went anywhere. As soon as he crossed the threshold into his quarters he began stripping, letting his armor come to a pile between the bathroom and bedroom as he stepped into the bathroom. 

On the far side of the small room, the floor sloped ever so gently towards a drain in the tile, with a small ledge to separate it from the rest of the room. He stripped completely naked and stepped into it, turning the knobs until blissfully hot water fell from the wide panel directly overhead. He groaned, feeling the tension leave his body little by little.

He soaped up and rinsed off, taking a bit longer than was strictly necessary, before cutting off the water and drying himself with a towel. Unbothered by his own nudity in his own home, he stepped out of the bathroom stark naked, with his dirty clothes in his arms.

His plan had been to pop into the bedroom to dress, to be ready to meet Alethia when she showed up. But he stepped out of his bathroom to find Ara sitting on his couch, in loose grey sweatpants and a skin-tight Vanguard t-shirt. Her dark purple hair fell around her shoulders while she chewed her thumb. 

One could make the mistake, as he did for many years, that she was sucking it. One would be corrected with a harsh tongue-lashing, as he was, for that mistake.

She laughed at his surprise, before graciously covering her eyes and allowing him the dignity to walk into the bedroom unwatched. Rook hastily threw on some clothes and emerged from his bedroom to take one of the chairs opposite the couch. 

"How did you get in here?" he asked.

Ara chuckled. "I still know your passcode. But I didn't actually need it, because you left the door open. Probably not a smart move if you aren't going to be wearing clothes, but who am I to judge?" Ara's hands, now in her lap, began to twist themselves. 

"Something you want to talk about?" Rook asked. And that seemed to be it. 

The words came pouring out of her. The drawer, the Cabal, the chase... She skipped over some parts that were either unimportant or she didn't want to share, twisting a ring on her thumb while she was parsing out which details to give him. She was terrible at poker, always broadcasting her thoughts and feelings. But it made her, generally, a fun lover...

"And the woman was kind. She kept me safe while Tavi did... whatever he was doing. But then we had a few drinks..." She trailed off, her big, doe-eyes searching his.

"And you had sex with her," he finished. He knew her penchant for liquor, and the subsequent effects it had on her. She was a horny drunk. She had never been a prude, but when her inhibitions were lowered, she was practically easy. She nodded.

"Indi and I haven't ever talked about being exclusive, but... He seems to be getting attatched. Like the sex isn't just sex anymore. And I think that's my fault, for staying the night." 

Rook frowned. "What makes you think he's getting attatched?"

She shifted in her seat. "In all the times we've had sex..." Ara stopped, waving her hands as if to erase the words from thin air before clapping her palms together and pressing her fingertips to her lips. "I've never been with an exo before," she began slowly, choosing her words carefully.. "So I don't know if maybe we were just doing it wrong before. But the other night..." 

Her cheeks purpled slightly. With the combination of her loose hair and civilian clothing, she very much reminded Rook of the first time he saw her, at the edge of the war room, her hands pressed against the glass in some old Awoken flight suit, torn in a couple of places. Her hair was much shorter then, gathered around her shy face. He had felt guilty for thinking about fucking her before he even knew her, but...

He hadn't been the one to initiate it that night.

"What happened the other night?" Rook asked, dragging himself back to the present.

"Can Exos _have_ an orgasm?" she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper.

The question caught him off guard. He cocked his head, looking at her. Ara drew herself back into the couch, staring down at her hands in her lap as her cheeks darkened even further. "I've always assumed so." 

Ara put her head in her hands and let out a long, low, dejected sound. "Am I overthinking all of this?" she asked after a few moments.

Rook moved to the couch and put his arm around her shoulders, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. "You're a Warlock. You overthink everything."

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Rook stood and answered it, unsurprised to see Alethia on the other side of it. She had changed her clothes, and her hair hung in damp strands around her face. Her smile faltered slightly when she saw Ara sitting on the couch.

"Are we still on for lunch?" she asked. "Or do you have something you need to take care of?" 

Ara got up from the couch and moved towards the door. "I'm heading out anyway. I've got a study I'm working on, and I should probably get back to it." She gave Rook's forearm a gentle squeeze, then smiled at Alethia before slipping between them and heading through the Tower halls back to her own quarters.

"So," Rook said, to break the silence. "How do you feel about udon?"

—×—

Movement to Dess' left jarred her from a deep slumber. She cracked open her eyes to see Vera moving about the room, getting dressed. Humming contentedly, she rolled over, hugging her pillow tight to her. When she heard the bedroom door open and close softly, she stretched her legs before languidly settling back down to snooze some more. Orion threw his heavy arm over her and she nestled back against his warmth.

A few hours later, she awoke with a long, full-body stretch. Orion's chest vibrated with his low chuckle as his large hand traveled over her body. "Good morning," he murmured in her ear, pressing his hips against hers so that she could feel his morning wood digging into her ass cheek.

"Good morning to you," she replied. "Up and at it again already?" The sunlight just barely peeked through the heavy curtains of each window.

He gripped her hip in his hand, pulling her earlobe into his mouth with his lips, giving it a nip. She let out a squeak. "I distinctly remember two gorgeous minxes ambushing me in the middle of cooking dinner and then letting me suffer all night last night."

Dess' breath hitched in her throat. "You came all over my face," she reminded him, grinding her hips back to meet his. "I wouldn't consider that suffering."

"Maybe not," he agreed. He pushed her hip forward and down to the bed before straddling her legs and pushing his cock between her thighs. He let it slide across her pussy, teasing and tempting her before he leaned over her. "But then again, _that_ wasn't where I wanted my cum."

Orion pushed open her thighs with his knee and settled between them. Dess whined softly when he rubbed the head of his cock back and forth against her slit. Already her moisture slipped out, coating him in her fluids. He hummed low in his throat as he pushed into her, sinking his full weight against her much smaller frame.

Dess cried out at the intrusion, her body making to pull away as an automatic reaction. Orion grabbed her hips, digging his fingers into the ample flesh and thrusting punishingly deep.

"Did I tell you to move?" he asked, leaning over so his breath tickled the shell of her ear. 

"No, Sir," she whimpered, her body falling limply to the bed. Orion pulled out and thrust back in roughly. She screamed, her body going rigid. The sound made him twitch inside her.

Orion reached in front of her and splayed a wide hand across her collarbone just below her throat, curling his fingers into the hidden hollows there as he pulled her body up flush against his. His other hand snaked around her waist as he began to move slowly.

Dess' breath caught in her throat as she felt him sliding against her flesh. His fingers danced over her skin until he grasped one of her breasts in his hands. He squeezed it, sliding his hand on her chest up to grasp her neck. 

When he squeezed, her eyes rolled back. "That's it, tighten around me." Orion thrust harder up into her. "Be a good girl for me." 

He dropped his hand from her breast to her clit, rubbing his fingers back and forth over it. Dess' fingers dug into his forearms as he brought her to a violent climax, releasing his grip on her throat just as she tipped over the edge. While she came, he steadied his movements, savoring her body pulsing around him. 

"Fuck yes. My good girl..." he breathed in her ear. When his fingers kept going, her legs began to quiver beneath him. 

She tugged at his wrists. "Stop! Please stop stop stop stop sto-"

He gripped her throat tightly again, cutting off her protests. Her nails sank into his skin. But he didn't stop, and as her entire body began trembling, he held her in place by her throat and fucked up into her roughly.

"You don't make the decisions here," he growled in her ear. Dess felt herself unraveling. His touches were too much. His cock was too rough. Her body rippled with the force of his hips against her as he impaled her again and again. Her mouth opened wide in a silent scream, eyes watering as she struggled to breathe, to move, to cry out...

He released her and she gasped deeply, though she fell limply against him. Her legs had tried desperately to close, only trapping his hand against her and allowing him to press harder against her sensitive and swollen nub. Incoherent moans and gasps wrenched themselves free from her. A slick, squelching noise reached her ears, and she felt it all over her mound as his hand ground against her.

"That's it..." His whispered words sent shivers down her spine as his breath rolled over her skin. "I'm so close, Dess."

Orion pushed them forward onto the bed, his hand leaving her throat to support his weight. Digging his fingers harshly into her hips again, he pulled her back in time with his thrusts. The smacking of his body against her supple ass echoed around the room until he finally came, 

Dess lay weakly beneath him, her entire sex still throbbing from the force of him. Orion's hard body pressed against her back, pinning her to the mattress as he emptied himself. His knees kept hers pushed apart as he pressed tightly against her. Her breaths came out in heavy pants. Against her back, his deep laughter rumbled in his chest and he wrapped his large fingers around her neck again. 

"You always take me so well," he murmured in her ear. "Always such a good girl for me." He settled down on top of her, keeping her clutched close to him and his cock buried in her body.

—x—

Rook watched Alethia swirl her chopsticks in her bowl, shifting her noodles in the broth. He finished slurping the noodles on his own chopsticks before setting down his bowl and wiping his mouth. "What is it?" he asked.

She looked up to see him staring at her, his arms resting on either side of his food. He looked so calm. Unlike the storm churning in her mind at current. 

"Why was Ara in your apartment?" she asked. Straightforward, as he had been. He nodded, then set back in his chair, lacing his fingers and settling then across his stomach. He looked so relaxed, so regal... Even with the conflict rolling around inside her, she felt her body's natural inclinations towards him. She forced herself to ignore them. 

"Ara and I have been friends for a long time. Longer than most human lifespans. But she is... Indecisive. When she finds herself in a situation she sees no clear-cut answer to, she comes to me." His eyes flicked to hers. "If we continue—" He motioned between them, as she had done before. "—this, you are going to have to understand that our first instinct is to seek the other out. It's a centuries-old habit."

She shifted under the heat of his gaze. She wanted desperately to leave, go back to her apartment a few blocks away and pretend none of this had happened. It was petty jealousy rearing its ugly head, and her shame crept along behind it like some hungry thing, seeking to devour her from the inside out.

"I don't know how I feel about that," she admitted quietly.

"And that's okay, Alethia," he rumbled. She looked back at him, her cheeks flaming as they locked eyes. "I understand that this can be difficult for some people. There's nothing wrong with that." He leaned forward. "But if this is going to work out, we will need communication. You'll need to tell me what you're struggling with, so that we can figure out a workaround. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," she breathed, unthinkingly. He chuckled when her blush deepened and she looked away. In an effort to distract herself, she tucked in to her cooled noodles. Rook sipped from his bowl.

"What is it that really bothers you?" he asked. She paused mid-slurp, before biting the noodle in half and swallowing. She licked her lips, seeing his iridescent gaze glance down at them briefly.

_That you're still fucking her._ But she couldn't say that. 

For starters, she had no proof. Ara had been missing when Alethia had ambushed him in the showers, and he hadn't even known until his Exo friend had interrupted them. And while it had been several days since her return, Rook had spent that time with Alethia. When they weren't indulging their mutual insatiabilities, they were destroying enemies of the Traveler.

In truth, they hadn't been apart for nearly two weeks.

And yet the words tumbled from her lips. "How can I compete with a relationship you've had since before I was reborn?" 

"You can't."

His words hit her harder than a transport train. She nodded, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. Why did this bother her? Who were they to each other anyway? She barely knew this man. She would pay for her meal, and leave him free to screw whomever he pleased—

"And you shouldn't want to," he said. Immediately, her mind stilled, and all of her focus went to him. "I don't compare the two of you. This isn't a competition. There is no prize to be won."

Rook wondered then if maybe he had vastly underestimated her age as a Guardian. More seasoned Guardians had, much like him, shifted from lover to lover over the years. Always, there were exceptions, but the majority of sexual partners he'd had did not display such insecurities as Alethia.

She stared at him, her big, wide eyes searching for something he could not give her. Alone, with walls to protect them from the outside world, she was unshakable. Behind the scope of her rifle, she was invincible. But next to Ara she crumpled, like a frail thing in the wind. 

"If you want, we can end things here and part ways. I cannot give you strength you need to forge for yourself." Her shoulders slumped across from him. "Or we can continue this endeavor. You'll need to decide which course of action best suits you."

She nodded, returning to swirl her noodles with her chopsticks again.

"But you're wrong about one thing," he said, picking up his chopsticks. "Ara and I have never been in a relationship. We have always been friends. But for her, sex is just sex. And while I believe that _could_ change... I lack the inclination to be the one to do that."

"What do you mean?" Alethia asked, finally finding her voice again.

"Ara is an incredible woman. An incredible Warlock. And I enjoyed having sex with her." He tilted his bowl, sipping the broth. "But I don't love her. She feels the same way."

They both settled into silence, with Alethia's unasked question hanging in the back of her mind.

_Could you love me?_

—x—

_Hey, You_

_I don't know what to say. I've written and rewritten this letter and still, my words feel flat. Even to me._

_I'm leaving._

_You and I have never agreed on the best course of action. We fought every single time we talked about going off-world. Even just to Mars, let alone where I want to go._

_I yearn for the far-flung reaches of the galaxy. I want to see new planets, new life forms. I want to experience the beauty that this universe has to offer. But you..._

_You want to stay here. In this city, on this planet, in this apartment, until we're both old. You want a family. You want stability._

_I want an adventure. We only have one life, and I want to do something exciting with mine. I love you more than anything in this world, but I cannot remain here for the remainder of my existence._

_So I've signed on to board a colony ship. I'm being added to the roster of scientists tasked with evaluating the sustainability of our chosen destination. Tomorrow morning, I'll be given my assignment and find out which ship I'll be working on._

_This is our last night together. Though, you don't know that and I'm honestly too afraid to tell you. But I've tried my best to make these last few days the best we've ever had. I know you aren't going to miss my cooking. You're a much better cook than I am, but I hope you remember my efforts fondly._

_I thought you were going to confront me about all of this, when we had our picnic today. But then... Well, you know how things turned out._

_I've tucked away a few things in a lockbox. Mostly just pictures, but there's some other things too. Maybe one day, when you don't hate me anymore you can go through it. I'm leaving the key with this letter._

_Remember that, while I'll be traversing the stars, my heart will always be here with you._

_Love Always,_  
_ME_

Ara read and reread the letter in her hands. She had searched the manifests of the colony ships, specifically the science divisions, but there were so many names. And with no way to tell if the author was male or female, the search had been unnerving and frustrating, until Indi had arrived to release some of that frustration.

She set the letter to the side with a sigh knowing that there was only one course of action left to unravel this mystery. She would need to go back to the apartment and hopefully locate the box.


	7. Happy Dawning

Ara awoke to the sound of beeping on her bedside table. She rose up, checking her communication device to see a message from Indi.

Tavi manifested directly in front of her communicator, his still-damaged shell twisting happily as he chirped and whirred. "Happy Dawning, Ara!" Tenderly, he floated towards her and gently bumped her cheek with a non-damaged corner of his shell. Ara sat up, plucking him gently from the air and rubbing her cheek against that same corner of his shell in response.

"Happy Dawning, Tavi." She released him, throwing back the covers and began her morning ritual.

After she had showered, dressed, and eaten, Ara returned to her bedroom, snatching her comdev off the table and finally opened the message from Indi.

 _Dawning starts today. Meet me in the courtyard?_ it read. She sent back a quick affirmative and headed out. Down the hall and to the left, the staircase ran all the way down to the level just below the hangar. Going up wasn't an option, as the top of the old Tower still hadn't been rebuilt, and that portion of the stairs had been blocked off. So, down she went, then across the new Tower to the staircases that ran up to the surface.

Finally, she emerged. The courtyard had been festively decorated in blue and white. Snowflakes drifted lazily towards the ground, while portals manifesting large snowballs took up residence in corners all around the social space. Eva Levante, the Guardians' official-unofficial grandmother, had already pitched her stand off to the side above Eververse, and the line to speak with her had already started. 

"Looks nice this year, doesn't it?" Indi asked as he approached her. "Though, not quite as nice as you today. Are those new pants?"

Ara shook her head, eyes rolling as she forced down a smile. She looked over at him to find his eyes trained on her ass, and she shoved him gently. He chuckled. 

"Come on," she said with as much annoyance as she could muster—admittedly, not much. "I've got to see a woman about a ship and a shell." 

Tess Everis' pleasant neutrality greeted them as they approached the order screen. "Welcome, Guardian," she said smoothly. Ara nodded in greeting just as Tess moved off to a Titan with questions about his items. 

Ara flipped through the events tab, looking over the ships. "That one's kind of cool," Indi said, pointing to a white ship with wings that curved towards the front, ending in gold tips and with the same white and blue lace like pattern of the Dawning flags on the back end of the wings.

She wrinkled her nose and moved on, until she came to one that drew her attention. It was smaller, with a straight cockpit that tapered in slightly at the front and stopped short in the back with the engine. But the wings of the ship reminded her strongly of a butterfly, wide at the front, with a smaller, second segment on each side towards the back. The wings were also painted with the Dawning lace pattern.

"This one," she said softly, tapping the button to transfer the brightdust she'd been jealously hoarding since it had become so scarce. 

Tess looked over at her own screen to approve the transaction on her end, bright blue eyes flicking up to glance over Ara. "Yeah," she nodded appreciatively, "That'll work." Tess tapped the approval, and Ara's comdev pinged, to let her know her ship was inbound to the hangar. Again, Tess stepped away, to allow Ara privacy while she browsed. 

"Tavi, what do you think?" Ara asked, looking over the ghost shells. Tavi hummed thoughtfully as she browsed.

"I really like that one," he said when she stilled on one. It was blue and gold and white, with curvy petals on the top, bottom, and sides divided by elegantly tapered spikes. It looked very much like a Dawning flower. The sides of the shell were the same beautiful Dawning blue, with the petals on the front and back pristine white. The tapered spikes were blue, tipped in the same gold that swirled over the middle edge of each white petal. "I just don't think I want to run around with a seasonal shell all the time."

"You could always use a shader," Indi suggested. "Might be kinda snazzy."

Ara and Tavi exchanged looks. "I _do_ like the sound of that," he agreed. Ara transferred the bright dust without a second thought. 

Once the glimmer transfer was complete, Tess pulled a box from the stack of new lining the back of her stall and set it on the counter with a smile. "Thank you for shopping at Eververse."

Ara took the box and moved out of the way of the customers who'd lined up behind her and made their way up the stairs to the railing. Ara pressed her back against it while Indi leaned back on it beside her. Sol manifested over his shoulder, her excitement bubbling over as her shell began whirring and clicking with her quick shuffling.

Ara opened the box to find the shell laid gently against some paper, and lifted it up towards Tavi on her palm. In two quick movements, he de-materialized himself and the new shell, then re-materialized inside of his new shell. The spikes and petals each moved independently of one another as he tested out his new shell.

"Well..." he said slowly, almost nervously, "How do I look? Is it snazzy?" He spun in midair, even as Sol zipped around him, scanning and chittering. 

Indi chuckled before catching the tears welling up in Ara's eyes. She hid her mouth behind her hand. "Yeah bud. It is."

—×—

Rook's fingers traced lazy circles over Alethia's hip as she scrolled through VanNet on her comdev. "Looks like the Dawning kicked off to a bigger crowd than last year," she said. He hummed in response. "From what I can tell, we're delivering cookies again this year. Someone said something about already having the recipes, so I guess they're the same?"

"I never did collect them all from last year, so I wouldn't know," he replied. She looked at him, brows furrowed. He shrugged. "The Dawning has always been Ara's thing. I help her with whatever the objective is, but it's never really been a big thing for me. I much prefer Crimson Days."

"Because of the Crucible," she said knowingly.

He nodded. "Because of the Crucible." Rook's fingers drifted downward, over her ass and down to her thigh. "I find it much more relaxing when the ones shooting back at me are my fellow Guardians."

Alethia's dark eyes peered at him through thick lashes. "Why's that?" she asked, a visible shiver running through her body when his fingertips skimmed too close to her knee.

"I am often... afraid," he confessed slowly. "We have lost so much. Between the Red War, and our many excursions with the Hive... It became clear to me a long time ago that our Light is not an immutable fact of existence." He lifted his hand between them, letting arc energy dance along the backs of his fingers. "It can be taken. It can be _stolen_. I don't remember anything about being dead. It unsettles me to know that I could go back just as easily as I can be rezzed."

She looked down, expression darkening as she thought it over. "I never thought of it like that." Her voice was soft. Small. Rook wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close to his chest, nuzzling his face against her short dark hair. 

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "Let's get dressed and go see what bounties Eva has for us, hm?"

Alethia turned her head to kiss him. "Alright, but only if we meet up with the rest of your fireteam." Rook's eyebrows shot upwards.

"Oh?"

Alethia glanced away, her cheeks reddening under his stern gaze. "It's like you said. Ara has been a part of your life for much longer than I have. I'm going to have to find a way to be okay with that. And if the Dawning is good for anything at all, it's bringing people together." Rook's fingers drifted downward, his hand pressing between her thighs and grasping one of them to hook backwards over his hip, pressing her ass against his lower belly. "What are you—"

He grasped her chin, turning her face towards him and capturing her mouth in a kiss. She reached back, letting her fingers run through his hair as their tongues danced. Rook grasped her breast, running the pad of his thumb over her stiffened nipple. She whined into his mouth.

His cock twitched where it rested on her thigh, and she reached down with her free hand, letting her fingers gently caress the weeping head. Rook moved his hand up to her throat, resting his fingers on her pulse. He pulled his lips away from hers, moving them back toward her ear. "Touch yourself," he whispered. 

Her body shivered at his commands. Giving his cock a gentle squeeze, she moved her fingers to her own body, rubbing her clit. She moaned softly.

"That's it," he murmured. The backs of her fingers only just brushed the top of him as he strained to control himself. "Make yourself cum." 

It didn't take long for her to bring herself over the edge. But when she did, he released her throat and moved his hand down to grasp himself. He adjusted the angle of his hips slightly, until the head of his cock pressed against her core. Slowly, he pushed in, letting her orgasm dull the pain of not having stretched her first. She pulsed around him, her body straining against the massive invasion. 

He grasped her hip and held it still as he hilted himself the rest of the way with one smooth movement. Alethia let out a strangled gasp, her hand moving back to his hip and clawing at him. Rook's arm snaked out from under their bodies to wrap around her, over her chest. He held her body down against his, holding her hip in place with his other hand. Alethia's body squeezed him.

She cursed, the word coming out more like a sob than anything. He held her in place, pressing his hips tighter up against hers, pushing back in from where she had pushed away. Her breathy moans filled the room. 

Rook pressed kisses along the side of her neck up to her ear. His deep, rumbling baritone was soft and steady as he spoke, his breath tickling the shell of her ear. "I'm going to fuck you and fill you, and once I've done that, I'll let you out of the bed. Do you understand?" 

Her eyes rolled back. He pulled out part way before slamming back in, his fingers digging in to her arm. 

" _Do you understand?_ "

"Yes," she breathed, her dreamy sigh turning to pleasured screams as he set a punishing tempo. 

—×—

Indi and Ara moved away from Eva's stall, new bounties shining brightly on their comdevs. "So where do you wanna head first?" he asked, flipping through them.

"Given that the bounties are only half the battle because we'll need ingredients..." Ara glanced around the Tower at all of the Guardians scrambling to get a head start on their cookie orders. 

"Let's head to the Shore," he suggested. "There's a bounty here for Scorn and a bounty for Fallen. And it might be worth paying Spider a visit." Ara nodded, and they both moved off in the direction of the hangar for their ships.

Sol chirped next to Indi's head once he was comfortably onboard the jumpship. "I've got an incoming transmission from Bishop. She says that once Rook gets a shower, he and Alethia plan to join us. Should I inform them of our destination?"

"Absolutely," Indi nodded, grasping the controls. He steered away from the Tower, Ara and her new ship not far behind.

—×—

Dess moved through the stalls, her shawl wrapped over and around her head. She pulled it forward slightly, fluffing it up about her neck as she moved to Rourke's stall. He leaned over on his elbows to chat with a petite blonde. When she giggled and looked away, Dess rolled her eyes. Who could be attracted to this slimeball?

She approached quietly and with purpose, staying just out of the conversation until Rourke's attention turned to her. The blonde turned and walked away now that she no longer had flatterings to keep her attention. 

"You said two days, Rourke." He flashed his grin at her. "It's been two days."

"And things are coming along nicely," he said silkily. "But you know how waiting for paint to dry goes."

She frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "It takes a few hours at best. What's the holdup?"

"No holdup!" Rourke skittered to the side. "Just a minor setback. Come back tomorrow morning, everything will be right as rain." 

—×—

"Send Sol and Tavi a message that we're on approach to the Shore," Rook said to Bishop, turning his ship ever so slightly to avoid the other ships in orbit around the largest asteroid in the vicinity. This was the home of the Spider, a very clever Eliksni who preferred negotiations. He preferred not to get his claws dirty, but had plenty of underlings to so it for him.

"Pick up some extra bounties from Spider and then head to wherever they are?" Alethia asked over comms.

"That's the plan," he replied, flipping switches and hitting buttons to power down his ship. 

Bishop's shell expanded and contracted quickly before she spun back to face him. "Rook, we've got a problem. Ara says they're pinned down by some Scorn. They need immediate assistance." Rook instructed her to transmat him to Alethia's still-running ship. Once he materialized, she hovered just off to the side so she could look through the windows of the ship. "There's more... Indi is down, and Sol is having trouble getting him back up."

Rook gripped the rails running down either side of the spacious cockpit. "Alethia-"

"Punching it!"

Bishop directed them to a craggy asteroid far away from any of the well-beaten paths they usually took. They were absolutely overwhelmed. Several Behemoths stood just on the other side of a series of dividing cliffs, the high ground being their only source of cover. Each Behemoth had at least a dozen Stalkers surrounding it, and a handful of Chieftans moved throughout.

Rook and Alethia transmatted down onto either side of Ara where she crouched down, a little ways back from the cliff's edge

"What happened?" Rook demanded, while Bishop transmatted Sweet Business into his hands. He opened fire on the largest cluster of foes while Ara continued firing arrows, each bolt sinking into her target with deadly precision. Alethia peered down the scope of her sniper rifle, landing equally powerful shots. 

Ara loosed her final arrow, and summoned a void grenade. She lobbed it into the fray where, on impact, it exploded into a dozen smaller fragments that bounced, taking out multiple enemies. "I don't know! I took off running when I heard the shot, but one of them got me in the back. By the time Tavi had me back up, Indi was down and we were surrounded."

"Why hasn't his Ghost revived him?" Alethia shouted.

Ara switched to her machine gun. "Because he isn't dead." Alethia frowned and looked up at the higher cliff face. She took off like a shot, jumping up the small cliff and climbing the last few feet. When she peered over, she saw Indi-3's body...

Parts of the Exo were spread all over the upper cliff as two Stalkers tore at him. Gleefully, they danced as his metallic frame screeched while they pulled his arms and legs apart, like sadistic children with an insect.

Alethia freed the hand cannon she rarely used, and fired off two quick shots that easily took down the first Scorn. It's companion turned towards her when it fell, hissing and cursing in Eliksni. She stilled, lowering to one knee to steady her aim, and fired again, killing the second Stalker mid-run. 

"Ghost, talk to me," Alethia yelled as she approached the Exo. She pulled off her gloves, placing her hands on his chest.

Sol materialized over her shoulder, before moving forward and scanning Indi-3. "His systems have begun to shut down. He won't last in this condition."

"That's good though, when he dies you can just rezz him, yeah?" She cupped his metallic cheek, turning his head slightly. His bright purple irises contracted and flickered erratically. His chest rose and fell as he gasped for breath. 

The Ghost's white shell twisted and jerked. "Not exactly. I need to get him to the Tower immediately." 

"My ship is nearby." Alethia had her Ghost transmat all of them to her ship. Below, Ara and Rook battled until they were out of danger, keeping the attention of most of the enemies until they were safely out of sight. "I'm taking Indi-3 back to the Tower," she said over comms.

Rook threw down a half-wall of light for the two of them to duck behind long enough to pull Tavi and Bishop out. They transmatted back to their own ships, and powered them up before heading back to the Tower, several minutes behind Alethia.

"Sol," Ara's voice was shaky over comms. "What exactly are we looking at here?"

The small creature flitted back and forth over the Exo as his frame rattled and shook with laboured breaths. "I'm not entirely sure. I have a theory, but I'm not exactly certain. I need... more information."

"Give us your best guess," Rook implored.

"It looks like shock. But Exos don't go into shock. They were given humanisms, but this isn't one. Most of his systems aren't functioning, but the ones that _are_... they're giving off funny readings." Indi's hood had fallen back from his cranium, and Sol scanned a series of scratches in the paint there from the two Scorned dragging his body across the rocky surface of the asteroid. "I've never seen anything like it. I don't know what it means. But it isn't good, and I don't like it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since my last update, mostly because I've been super tired and my inspiration has been lacking. Sorry about that, but life is kinda crazy right now. For everyone, not just me. This chapter was pretty much plot-exclusive. But the next chapter is pretty much exclusively porn, so y'all have that to look forward to!


	8. Love and War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised that the next chapter would be almost entirely porn, and here it is! Content warning for Futanari, just in case that isn't something you're into. It's pretty much the whole chapter, except for the couple of non-smut sections.
> 
> Remember what i said about being here for the futa tag? Welp, here ya go. (It's my first time writing futa, please be gentle. *wink*)

The urge to turn around and go back to the bazaar was great. But forcing Rourke's hand would do her no good, and so she crossed into the threshold back into the seemingly empty house. Dess peered into the kitchen from the livingroom as she pushed the door shut and locked it. But it was empty. 

Dess frowned and moved through the rooms, seeing no sign of activity. "Vera?" she called out. "Orion?" 

"Up here, darling," she heard from the stairs. She unwrapped her shawl from her shoulders and let it fall to the arm of the couch as she passed it. She padded up the stairs and down the hall to the bedroom. In the doorway, she paused to take in the view. 

Vera's bare form lay languidly on the bed, her head propped up by one hand as she lazily stroked her cock as it stood out ramrod stiff. Her dark eyes traced over Dess, a smile spreading across her face. She removed her hand and crooked a finger in Dess' direction. 

Breath caught in her throat, she stepped forward as Vera rose like a snake uncoiling from its nest, slow and calculated. The two women collided at the edge of the bed, Vera's hands moving to cup Dess' face, her fingers sliding back into the smaller woman's thick curly locks. She laid claim to Dess' mouth, tongue bursting forth and demanding entrance. Access was granted, and Vera's hands moved southward, stripping off Dess' clothing until she stood in only her panties. Vera's cock pressed into the shorter woman's belly.

Hands moved across skin as Vera cupped and squeezed Dess's breasts, tweaking and rolling her nipples between stern fingers. Dess moaned into her lover's mouth before finding a use for her own hands. 

Dess' fingers wrapped around Vera's slender shaft, closing firmly before running up and down its length. Her other hand wrapped around the head, her thumb rubbing back and forth over the leaking slit. Now it was Vera's turn to moan.

It didn't last. Vera grasped Dess by the shoulders, forcing her down to the bed before climbing atop her. Her cock came to rest between Dess' breasts and she grasped them in between her hands, sliding her shaft between them. Dess tipped her head forward, letting her tongue stretch out to slide against the head of Vera's cock. Her precum was sweet with a subtle tang, and as Dess lapped at it, Vera's controlled motions became slightly more erratic.

"Don't cum yet, my love," came Orion's deep voice from across the room. Dess gasped in surprise as her gaze whipped over to him. He sat back in a cushy chair in the corner, stark naked and sprawled out like a king in his throne. His impressive erection commanded Dess' lust-fueled attention, though he made no move to satisfy it. _His_ gaze remained trained on Vera, who nodded and slowly moved off of Dess to stretch out on the bed, propped up on a handful of pillows against the headboard. 

She spread her legs, beckoning the smaller woman by again crooking her finger as her other hand reached between her thighs, past her cock to trail over her dripping slit. Dess crawled forward, now aware of Orion in the corner of the room. A shiver rolled down her spine as she felt his eyes travel over her. Maybe it was just her imagination. Maybe it wasn't. But when Dess snaked her tongue out to trace Vera's labia and felt her cock twitch against her cheek, she thought she heard Orion groan in time with Vera's mewl.

Her pussy tasted just like the precum from her cock, and as Dess moved to envelope Vera's shaft, she slipped her fingers into the tight wetness. Vera's eyes rolled back, her moan reverberating through the room as sunlight drifted in through the window. Dess swallowed her cock whole, forcing down her gag reflex by focusing on her fingers in the larger woman's pussy. The hips beneath her bucked as she struck a sensitive place inside.

"Fuck..." Vera gasped. Dess pulled back some, sealing her lips and sucking as she moved her head. A rush of tangy-sweet precum filled her mouth when she dragged her fingers back over that sensitive bundle between the base of Vera's cock and the front wall of her pussy. She focused her tongue on the head of the larger woman's cock, delving the tip of her tongue into the leaking slit at the end before dragging the flat of it over the underside. She doubled her efforts in Vera's pussy, adding another finger and increasing the speed at which she thrust them in. 

Vera's patience snapped, and she gripped Dess' hair by the roots to hold her head in place as she thrust upwards into the smaller woman's mouth. Dess struggled to catch her breath between thrusts, the sounds of her gagging nearly as loud as Vera seeking her pleasure. 

"Vera."

The single word, uttered so sternly and yet so simply, halted the woman suddenly. She whined, but released Dess, who sat up and wiped the spit and precum from her mouth with the back of her hand. Dess looked over her shoulder at Orion, whose eyes traveled over her fleshy form.

"Take off your panties, Dess." Her face flushed, she stood on her knees and pushed them down to the bed before flopping awkwardly to the side and pulling her legs free. "Now bring them to me." With a small huff, Dess pushed herself up and left the bed. Orion held out his hand expectantly when she approached, and she placed the garment in his grasp. His gaze flicked from Dess before him, to Vera who must certainly have been desperate for release by now. "On your knees."

Dess obeyed, kneeling between his thighs. She made to blow him, but he stopped her. Instead, he wrapped her panties, scented strongly with her arousal, around his cock and slowly stroked himself with it. Dess shifted in front of him. "My love." He tipped her face up to his.

"Yes?" Vera asked from the bed.

Orion's eyes remained locked with Dess'. "Make her scream." She heard movement behind her as Vera crossed the room to them. Vera pulled her to her feet and dragged her back to the bed before pinning her down with another searing kiss. Their tongues danced as Dess took the opportunity to fondle _Vera's_ breasts. Smaller than her own, due to Vera's much more lean and muscular physique, they nevertheless filled her hands. 

Vera settled between the smaller woman's thighs and grasped her cock by the base. Wasting no time, she sheathed herself in Dess' slick heat. Dess' back arched at the sudden intrusion, her breath catching in her throat and her hands dropped to grip the blankets. Vera chuckled before pressing light kisses to Dess' face. She was slimmer than Orion, but made up for it in length. The tip of her cock pressed tightly against the entrance to Dess' womb, even before she'd pressed fully in. 

When she pulled back, then thrust harshly in, she slammed against Dess' cervix. The pain was not entirely without pleasure, and stars exploded in her vision as Dess heard a mangled cry of surprise wrench itself free of her throat. 

"That's it," Orion rumbled. Dess turned her head, peering through heavily lidded eyes at him. His fist kept her panties wrapped tightly around his length as he stroked it while his wife fucked her into the mattress, forcing her entire body to tremble. "Be a good girl for me."

Dess came undone. Her entire body spasmed under Vera's as her orgasm overtook her. Vera moaned as she felt Dess' release. Her eyes rolled back as her hips smacked against Dess' ass, sending the shockwaves rolling through her soft body. She peaked, groaning out loudly as she rocked into Dess.

Both women huffed. Vera collapsed to the side, her cock trembling as the last of her pleasure rolled through her, though she produced no semen. The chair in the corner creaked ever so slightly as Orion stood and crossed to them. With a deep chuckle that rumbled through his chest, he grasped Dess' legs behind the knees and brought her hips to the edge of the bed. Hooking his hands under the backs of her knees, he lifted her legs and pushed them toward her chest.

"My turn," he grinned, jutting his hips forward. 

—x—

"Reset him?" Ara's brows furrowed as she stared at Sol. "I thought Guardian Exos didn't need resets?" She glanced to Rook, who shook his head slightly with a shrug. 

Sol's shell twitched. "It's a common misconception. While DER can be spurred on by extreme physical trauma, it's the mental trauma that typically is the cause. Think of it as a life-ending mental illness for Exos. Most Exos suffer from some form of it, and need a reboot to stave it off."

Ara sat against the wall, staring at the door across the hall in front of her.

"Will he forget things?" Rook asked, beginning to pace slowly in front of Ara. Sol turned in he air, floating side to side and looking anywhere but at the three Guardians in front of her. They were all thinking of Banshee-44, though no one wanted to mention it. 

"To be honest," she said tensely, "I'm not sure how much he'll _remember_." 

Alethia and Rook exchanged glances. Ara held her head in her hands. "This is all my fault," she whispered. 

—x—

Orion's cock forced it's way into Dess' sensitive heat, drawing a sharp cry as he stretched her, his member much thicker than Vera's. She cried out, her fingers grasping the sheets. He groaned when her hips jerked, her body trying to escape the violent intrusion. Orion had much more range of motion than she did, with her knees pushed towards her ample chest and twisting up her thick form beneath him. 

He shifted the position of his hips to match hers, pressing deeply in until she felt as though she would split. Fully sheathed inside of her, his cock jerked once. He inhaled deeply, his eyes rolling back before he rolled his hips. When he thrust back into her, she moaned long and low, her entire body shivering as goosebumps covered her chest. Her nipples puckered and Vera, now recovered from her orgasm, saw an opportunity.

Vera crouched above Dess, curling her fingers around each of Dess' nipples and gave a gentle squeeze. The smaller woman gasped, eyes shut tight as Orion began to assail her pussy. 

"This is my favorite part," Vera whispered in Dess' ear. "Fucking your pretty pink cunt is always a pleasure. But watching him take you— _own you_ —" She moved a hand away from Dess' nipple. "It always gets me hard."

Dess managed to open her eyes and glance upwards. Above her on the bed, Vera's hand had wrapped around her cock, stroking it while she played with Dess' nipple. Vera pressed soft kisses to her forehead, even though her eyes were locked on the man between her thighs. She looked down.

Orion paid neither of them any attention as his hands on the backs of her knees forced them open and up out of his way. He drove his cock into her body with ferocity, 

"Isn't he beautiful?" Vera murmured. Her tongue snaked out and grazed the shell of Dess' ear. Chills raced down her spine and her body reacted. Orion groaned.

"Whatever you're doing, keep it up" he rumbled. "She's squeezing the fuck out of me." 

Vera chuckled, and claimed Dess' mouth in a kiss. She pinched Dess' nipple harder, forcing a gasp from Orion as her pussy clamped down around him. "Let's give him a good one, shall we?" Vera's raspy voice cooed in her ear. She shifted positions, sliding er hand down between Dess' thighs to circle her swollen clit, still sensitive from her earlier orgasm. Each graze of Vera's fingertips set Dess' body on edge.

"No no no, please!" she gasped out. It was too sensitive, she couldn't—

"Shhh, darling. Just let us play with you." With every swipe of Vera's touch, Orion grunted in satisfaction. "I could watch this all day." 

Dess' eyes were shut tight against the sensations railing her. Orion's thrusts became erratic. His breathing hitched, his grasp tightened and—

"I'm gonna cum," he growled. 

Vera upped the tempo of her fingers on Dess' clit, driving near-screams from her throat as she ignored the hypersensitivity of the small nub. She gave Dess' nipple a hard tweak.

Dess cried out. Orion thrust deeply inside of her, his cock twitching madly as he spilled himself entirely inside of her. Vera kept up her assault as he rode out his orgasm, grinding his hips into Dess' as if to force it deeper into her. 

Finally, Vera stopped. Dess gasped as the torturous pleasure subsided. But when she opened her eyes, she saw Vera's cock poised at her lips. "We aren't finished yet, darling," Vera murmured. "Open up."

She slid her cock into Dess' mouth and slowly moved her hips, seeking pleasure. Orion withdrew, and Vera leaned forward, over Dess' smaller, if softer and rounded, body. He chuckled. "Going to clean me off?" Vera murmured something Dess couldn't quite hear before she heard a muffled sigh. " _Fuck_ I love it when you do that."

Dess felt fingers plunge into her body, quickly finding her sensitive spot along the front wall and focused on it, eliciting a deep moan from her. Vera took the opportunity to slide down Dess' throat, making a sound very similar when Orion's legs brushed Dess' ass. If she had to guess, she would say that Vera had probably swallowed Orion's cock the same way she was making Dess swallow hers. The thought made her pussy clench around the fingers, and Vera chuckled.

"She like this?" Orion asked. Vera made an affirmative noise around his cock, and he grunted, his legs bumping Dess' ass again. "Beautiful minx, playing with her so that she pleasures you and you pleasure me." Orion chuckled. "But I'm afraid I'm going soft, dearest."

Vera pushed deeper into Dess' throat, and she gagged slightly, causing a moan to rise out of the larger woman. Orion hummed in satisfaction. But then he pulled away, releasing Dess' legs. She heard his footsteps move away, and then Vera shifted her focus. Lips encircled Dess' clit as Vera upped the tempo in her pussy. She groaned, causing Vera's hips to lose rhythm momentarily. She nipped at Dess' clit, then sucked hard.

Stars exploded behind her eyelids as she gasped for air around Vera's slender cock in her throat. Her hips moved of their own accord, grinding her clit against Vera's mouth as she finally found her second orgasm. 

"Beautiful," came Orion's deep voice to her left. The mattress sank under his weight as he moved beside them. Vera moaned out loud and Dess opened her eyes to find Orion sinking two fingers into her pussy just above the base of her cock. "Now let's make you cum, my love." Vera's hips ground back against the both of them as Dess, trapped beneath her and gagged most efficiently, could only lie there as Vera fucked her throat while getting her pussy fingered. Her juices began to drip down, running along her cock and straight into Dess' mouth.

Never one to leave a partner be, Vera went back at Dess' pussy, diving in with her tongue. But it wasn't long before she lost focus. Dess swiped her tongue along Vera's cock, savoring her juices as they flowed in from her pussy above. 

"That's it," Orion murmured. "I know you're close." Vera's breath came in short gasps and moans. Her hips rocked gently. Orion leaned over and nipped at the ample flesh of one cheek. She whined, her face pressed against Dess' inner thigh. Dess hummed low in her throat, and the vibrations set her off. Her cock spasmed in Dess' throat as her cum came pouring out of her pussy. Dess closed her eyes as it covered her face, dripping off of Orion's knuckles.

When her orgasm finally subsided, Orion moved away and allowed both women to untangle themselves before climbing up further in the bed. Dess collapsed, uncaring of the cum all over her body. Orion chuckled and grabbed a shirt from next to the bed and wiped her face. Vera trailed soft kisses up her body until she reached her husband, who claimed her mouth with his. He pulled away from her and moved to kiss Dess. When his tongue swept her mouth, the mix of flavors from Vera's kiss, of her pussy and his cum, mingled with the taste of Vera's cum still lingering in her mouth. 

The three of them collapsed into exhausted, satisfied sleep. 

—x—

Sunlight kissed his bare back as he pressed open-mouthed kisses to her throat, moving downwards and across her collarbone, nipping and suckling to add to the dozen other deeply red patches spread across it. They would be purple in the morning. He growled in satisfaction, rolling his hips as he came inside her. Anyone who saw them would know about him. 

Good.

If she was going to leave, she would leave with his teeth in her neck and his seed in her womb. If she was going to leave, she was going to remember.

"Indiana..." she breathed. He stared into her eyes as she came undone beneath him. Her nails dragged against the skin of his biceps, leaving their own marks. 

And then she was gone. He stood alone in the field. He turned this way and that, frantically searching. But the grass where she had lain was gone. Now, only millet brushed his thighs where hers had. 

He looked down. His hands were no longer flesh and bone, but now silicone and steel. He wore simple clothes, but his arms were still bare and he could see the steel continue upwards and into the shirt. Turning, he saw a tower in the distance, against the pink and orange streaked sky of the setting sun. He moved to approach, but a hand on his shoulder held him back. 

When he turned, he saw a man made of metal. His chrome skull was hidden by a hood, though a lone horn in the middle of his forehead held it back from his face. His backlit blue eyes narrowed and he pulled a knife from his thigh holster. 

The fight was quick, and when the hooded man had fallen, he felt regret. The blade in his hand bore three arrows, with their tips filed down, stacked atop one another. He examined it, the feeling of a memory scratching at the back of his mind. When he turned back to the tower, he faced an army. 

The battle was long. Bloody. Every time an opponent would fall, another took their place. Just as a large man with blue skin fell, he spun and came face to face with the woman from before. He breathed a sigh of relief, and then saw next to her another woman. They were of the same height and a similar build, though she wore blood-spattered robes. Her pale blue skin looked very similar to the man who lay on the ground next to him, though her eyes were a deeper blue. Her dark violet hair fell in a thick braid down her back. He stepped forward, confused though he reached out for her. 

She raised her sidearm and he stopped. He looked back to the blonde woman, whose stance mirrored the other's.

"Wait!"

Both triggers pulled. Both bullets found their mark, and he fell.

"I... love you..." His vision went black.

Indi-4 awoke with a gasp, clutching the blanket to his chest where the bullets had pierced him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obligatory "stay safe/stay home" comment. I work in healthcare and these last couple months have been an unholy mess. We are working harder with less time and less people than normal at my hospital due to hour cuts and so when I _do_ get home, I'm exhausted. Please bear with me as we all struggle through this pandemic.


	9. New Kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, full disclosure. I've had this chapter written for months. I try to keep one fully written chapter between the last update and the one I'm working on, in case I have to go back and adjust the previous chapter. (So, I won't post Chapter Seven until Chapter Eight is finished.) But a glitch in my phone deleted my entire manuscript fro Chapter Ten, leaving me with no choice but to rewrite it. 
> 
> Which was extremely disheartening, because I was _extremely_ pleased with the way Chapter Ten had gone. It sapped my creative momentum, and I completely dropped this fic for a while, to allow myself time to get the juices flowing again. Of course, I wrote a one shot in between that time and now, for a wholly different fandom. But I've since redone Chapter Ten, and am pushing the next chapter to go a different direction than I'd originally planned.
> 
> Updates won't be happening quite as often as they had been before. Mostly because I know I can't stick to that rigid of a schedule, and expectations like the ones I had previously set for myself only led to disappointment. But I will hopefully have Chapter Ten up soon.
> 
> Anyway, enough rambling. Here's Chapter Nine!

Indi-4 sat on the edge of a soft mattress. The room was basic—white walls, simple furniture, a closet. There was no personalization. No evidence that anyone actually lived here. 

"Do all Guardians get rooms like this?" he asked the small creature flying next to him. Sol, she said her name was. 

Her covering—no wait, _shell_ —spun around the silver eye in the middle as she spoke, drifting back and forth in midair. 'All Guardians have the option, but not all Guardians take them. Many, after a while and after they've earned enough Glimmer, find nicer accommodations."

He looked down at his bare feet, pressed against the plush rug reaching out from under the bed, also white. Mostly made of the same black silicone as his palms and fingers, his metal plating stretched down to his toes. He wiggled them, for some reason, watching the way they dug into the carpet. He could feel each fiber as if it were a thick rope beneath him.

This was all so... much. And without any frame of reference...

He stood quickly, startling the Ghost— _his_ Ghost—and moved to the window to stare out at the people below. The hardwood floors felt cool on the soles of his feet. Shifting from foot to foot, he slid them to different places to test the spots where the grain of the wood was less noticeable. 

"You can wear your shoes wherever you like," Sol said as she moved slowly closer to him. Her shell reflected the evening sun, turning the white of her frame pink. "And your socks when you go to bed. There are gloves..." 

She went quiet for a moment. Indi-4 looked at her and watched as her eye moved slightly side to side. 

Finally, Sol found her words again, saying "We can get you some gloves to help with the sensory overload."

Indi-4 looked down at his hands. Making fists and then releasing them, he paid close attention to the way his palms felt against his fingertips. When he did, he realized he had forgotten about the woodgrain against his soles. 

"I think I can figure out a way to deal with this," he said softly. "I may be new to all of this, but it's my body. I'll figure it out. I mean, I must have before, right?"

Sol looked away, out the window. He cocked his head, eyebrow plates drawing down. 

"Didn't I?" 

She flitted away to a door in the wall and disappeared. Tiny flecks of silvery light appeared and then winked out one by one. A moment later, they appeared again over the bed and then on a larger scale when clothing dropped heavily onto the mattress.

"What was that?" he asked. 

Cheerily, she replied, "Transmat! All Ghosts can do it. We can transmat items and people. But in my case, they have to be under a certain size. And I can even help others transmat if need be."

Indi-4 frowned. "Why would you ever need to help someone transmat something?"

She spoke slowly, unsure. Indi-4 wasn't sure of what. "There was a Ghost who had been damaged. And he needed an assist in getting his Guardian on her ship." Then she moved closer to him, her shell stilling as he voice dropped to a whisper. "Mostly he just needed the confidence, so I didn't tell him I helped at all." With that, she disappeared into another puff of light. 

More confused than he had been before, Indi-4 dressed quietly, his mind drifting back to the vivid dreams of last night. They didn't feel new, and yet he had no recollection of any of the people he had seen, or fought. The faces of the women who killed him set off a strange feeling. Almost like a thought that had just escaped his mind.

Finished, he stepped out the door into the main living space. A simple gray couch sat facing a simple table and two identically styled chairs. Behind it, a countertop divided the kitchen and living room. A small island rested between the countertop and cooking area. Off in the back, a plain table with two chairs hid, all made of the same light wood.

Sol flitted around in the kitchen, scanning the cabinets that hung above the counter against the walls and under them. Indi-4 watched her with fascination. When she realized she was being watched, she stopped suddenly and her whole shell jerked as though she were startled.

"I forgot you do that," she said with a nervous laugh. 

Indi-4 cocked his head and moved into the kitchen, giving it an inspection of his own. "I do what?" He pulled open one cabinet after another. All of them were bare.

She floated side to side, looking away from him. "Hunters," she emphasized. "You guys are just so darn sneaky."

Was there something off about the way she spoke to him? Or was she always so... jittery? Either way, he made a mental note to try and walk a little heavier, to let her know he was nearby. 

He pulled open the fridge and found it also empty. "How does someone get some grub around here?"

"Oh! Well, um..." She paused. "You actually have a bit of Glimmer already. You can buy lunch from a vendor, or shop for groceries if you know how to cook..."

He wanted to ask how he could possibly have currency. Would that make her nervous again? Instead he asked, "Where could I get lunch in say, the next five minutes?"

Sol led Indi-4 through winding stairwells and hallways. Past empty rooms and scarcely occupied libraries. Civilians and Guardians alike passed them in couplets and trios, chattering pleasantly or debating with rigor. A few greeted him, and he nodded back to them. 

"You didn't tell me I'd have to walk a mile to get grub," he teased.

"You didn't ask," she shot back jovially. When they finally emerged from the shadows to the sunlight, it blinded him. He shielded his eyes just as an overwhelming aroma of spices and salt and pork met his olfactory sensors.

"What is that smell?" he asked. If he could have salivated, he would have.

Sol turned to him, her shell twitching excitedly. "That, my dear Exo, is called ramen. We have a stall directly in the Tower for hungry individuals such as yourself." He took a barstool at the counter just as the man behind it slid a bowl in front of the patron next to him.

"What'll it be?" he asked. Indi-4 looked for a menu, but found none.

"Surprise me?" he asked in response. The man looked him over, then looked at Sol, floating over his shoulder. He nodded and turned back to the cooking area.

Sol moved down in front of him. "Once you're finished here, we should probably meet up with our assigned fireteam. I've looked them over, if you would like to know a bit about them?" Behind her, an image caught his eye. 

"I'd like to know more about that," he said, pointing. Sol spun, saw the image, and her whole shell spasmed.

"That's Cayde-6. He was the Hunter Vanguard. But then he and another Guardian went on a mission and he... didn't come back." Sol slid to the side as a large bowl was placed in front of Indi-4. She transferred the Glimmer.

He stared at it for a few moments. Thin, light colored noodles swam in a deep brown broth with sliced mushrooms and green onions. Four slices of tender pork lay across one side, and two hard boiled eggs lat on the other.

"How is it that I know what this stuff is?" he asked her. He took a pair of chopsticks in his hand and fiddled with them for a few minutes. "And yet I cannot operate these?" Giving up, he opted for taking a fork from the cup at the end of the counter.

Sol giggled, the sound light and melodic, if slightly mechanical. ""Minds are funny things," she said. "Especially Exominds. Some information sticks, even through resets and resurrections. Some doesn't."

He tucked in as Sol began giving him the shorthand guide to patrols, since that was the task they'd be completing. 

"I know it sounds boring, but these are essential to the overall Vanguard presence on the system."

Indi shook his head before slurping down the noodles from his fork. "Doesn't sound boring to me." He stabbed a piece of the pork and munched quietly for a few minutes. "Actually, it sounds like a really good way to start off. Ease myself into it."

Sol went quiet, but Indi-4 didn't press her. Until they got to know one another better, her secrets were none of his concern.

—×—

The Warlock heard a twig snap from behind her. Jerking her hand back from the wooden door, she turned on her heel and drew her sidearm. A shitty weapon, honestly, but it was a hell of a lot quicker than the bow strapped across her back. 

Iridessa raised both hands, despite having a basket in one of them. "Easy there, Lightbearer. They're just tomatoes."

Ara lowered her weapon back to its place on her thigh. "Sorry. I still get..." She looked around the clearing.

"Nervous?" Dess supplied with a small smirk. She moved past Ara and opened the front door, leaving it wide open for her to follow. "Take a seat. You look like you need it." Ara looked around the cabin, finding that nothing had changed since her last visit, save for a few bundles of herbs hanging by the fireplace to dry out. Moving to the table, she sat while Dess pulled a cooking pot from one of the chipped-paint cabinets, and then moved to the sink.

Ara took a breath. "To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm doing here," she said. "When I left the City, I hadn't really planned on going anywhere in particular."

Dess set aside some of the tomatoes. The rest she rinsed before grabbing a knife and moving to the counter. "My father used to say 'if you let your feet move without telling them where to go, they'll take you to where you need to be.' I suppose, for you, that's here right now." She began dicing the tomatoes.

Ara scoffed, sitting back in the chair and looking at the couch where she'd slept while she waited for Tavi to wake. "Doubtful. I'm supposed to be meeting my fireteam in half an hour."

"I don't think you're going to make that meeting," Dess responded plainly, dropping the tomatoes into the pot. From the windowsill she snagged a few peppers and diced them before tossing them in too. "Something brought you here. Speak." She added water and then set the pot over the flame on the stove. She turned and leaned against the counter, folding her arms over her chest.

The Warlock took a deep breath. Her gaze traveled over to the human on the other side of the kitchen and watched as she crossed one ankle over the other and waited. "One of my fireteam—our Exo—was hurt. Badly. He had to be reset."

"Reset?" Dess frowned. "Like a computer from way back when?"

Ara's mouth quirked up on one side. "Kind of. It's not common in Guardians, because when we die and our Ghost revives us, our bodies go back to the way they were before we died. So, if I blew up right now, I would be in one piece when Tavi revived me. Regardless of how small the pieces of me were when he started the process." 

Dess' brows drew down in the middle, and she pursed her lips. But she nodded, so Ara continued. 

"Our minds also snap back to the moments 'before'. It's why I have no recollection of the pain of dying, or the moment that it actually happened, even though I've died hundreds of times since my initial resurrection." Ara watched Dess uncross her arms and ankles, then make a kettle of tea. When it finished, she brought the pot and the kettle over to the table and sat across the corner from Ara.

"So then why did your Exo need a reboot?" Dess asked, pouring two cups. Ara sipped from her mug.

_"His systems had begun to shut down even before we got him on the jumpship. When they tore off his limbs, they ripped open his fuel lines, and everything just..." Sol flitted around jerkily, her whole shell spasming randomly. "I did what I could just to keep him alive but he was already in the process of DER when we got him here. And I've never had to reset an Exo—it's not as simple as reviving."_

_"Reset him?" Ara asked. Surely she had misheard. There was no way. "I thought Guardian Exos didn't need resets?" Frantically, she looked to Rook. She searched his face for answers, for reassurance, for_ anything _to indicate the true weight of the situation. He shrugged, at a loss himself. Her chest felt heavy._

_She slid slowly down the wall at her back. "It's a common misconception. While DER can be spurred on by extreme physical trauma..." Ara wasn't even listening anymore._

"Extreme physical trauma." Her voice had become barely more than a whisper. "We were cornered on an asteroid. Two Scorned Stalkers grabbed him from behind and dragged him up over the cliffside..."

_Indi screamed, his voice ringing in her eardrums over the sound of elemental rounds flying past. "They're tearing me apart!"_

_"Where the fuck is my backup?" Ara shouted, popping up over the top of the boulder that provided her only real cover. Three quick arrows flew from her bow before she dropped to the ground again. "Tavi!"_

_"They've just come into orbit over the Shore. Bishop says they're en route to our location. I've dropped a beacon."_

_Indi's excruciated cries nearly drowned out her Ghost. "Is there not a single other Light-damned Guardian in the area?" she roared. Indi screamed out for her, and then was silent._

Dess sipped quietly from her mug. "He's alive though?"

That was the question, wasn't it? Indi-3 was gone. Lost, out on that asteroid. In his place, now, Indi-4. But was he the same? Was he a completely different individual? He might not remember Ara at all. Not even fragments.

And yet, perhaps _all_ he remembered were fragments. Snippets of information he would have trouble piecing together. How much of that could she help with?

"Sort of," Ara finally answered. "But I haven't spoken to him. I don't know what he's like now."

She couldn't even grieve him. He wasn't dead. How could you grieve the loss of someone when they stood in front of you?

Dess nodded thoughtfully, then stood. She downed her cup of tea. "Well, if you're not going to meet with your team, you can help me with dinner. Come on."

—×—

"Where's Ara?" Rook grumbled, looking around the hangar. Alethia perched on the railing beside him, fiddling with her comdev. 

She placed a hand on his pauldron, stealing his gaze from the swathes of Guardians and engineers shuffling about their daily business. Something, aside from the usual Dawning Festivities, was brewing in the Tower. "Maybe she got cold feet?" she suggested. Maybe she was avoiding the situation entirely. 

If there was one flaw Rook never could stand about his oldest friend, it was this. Difficult conversations and social interactions either made her shut down or run away. He didn't understand it. Ara could fight hoardes of Taken, armies of Vex... For over a hundred years she had been at his back, protecting and fighting alongside him. But difficult conversations terrified her to the point of hiding. 

He didn't understand it.

"Here comes Indi-4," Bishop said quietly between them. "Now remember, Sol says he has no memory of anyone right now. So play it like you've never met him. We don't know if DER has any lingering triggers."

"And we don't want him to have to be reset again," Alethia agreed, stowing her comdev and sliding off the railing.

Bishop shifted closer to Rook. "I don't know that it's quite that concerning. Sol just wants to keep the confusion for him to a minimum right now." 

Across the hangar, Sol murmured quietly to her Exo. "On the left is Rook. He's the fireteam leader. You'll take most of your direction from him, but don't be afraid of speaking up. To his right is Alethia. She's new to the fireteam, like you."

"Is she a new Guardian, too?" he asked somewhat hopefully. 

"Not like you," she said, evasive. "But she hasn't been around nearly as long as Rook. As for the last member of the team..." Sol's eye glanced around as they approached. She slowed when she had trouble finding the violet-haired Warlock. Indi-4 also slowed his pace, his brows furrowing as he looked at her. 

"Something wrong?" he asked. 

Sol looked to Rook, who gently shook his head. She looked down, then off to the side. "I must have misread the assignment for today, is all. I thought there would be someone else with us today."

She pressed on, moving the pair closer to the waiting Guardians. Indi-4 examined them closely as he approached. Rook was tall, at least a head taller than he. And broader by far, though that may have been his armor. Alethia on the other hand, stood shorter. It was hard to determine exactly how she looked, with her armor blocking most of her form, but what he could see of her were soft curves. Her thighs had caught his attention from a few meters away. He kept his focus on her face, though, as not to be disrespectful.

"Indi-4," he introduced, sticking a gloved hand out. Rook stared at his it, a strange expression on his face that the Exo couldn't quite figure out. Alethia broke the tension by accepting his handshake, a charming smile overtaking her features. He finally paid attention _to_ her face, rather than just trying to avoid her body. Between her dark eyes, a white stripe followed all the way from her eyebrows to the tip of her fine nose. It skipped her rather full lips to continue down her chin. Her hair was cropped short, barely more than chin-length, in a jagged manner that left some tufts of her hair sticking out near the top where she'd pulled the front of it back. If down, it might have framed her face, its heart shape made even more obvious by her widow's peak at the base of the bit pulled back.

She seemed kind, and he made a mental note to stick close to her.

Rook cleared his throat, causing Indi-4 to jump back a little. Alethia giggled, then leaned back against the railing with her arms crossed. "He's a bit grumpy today. Don't mind him " 

The Titan frowned, then stepped away himself and crossed his own arms across his broader chest. He looked down towards the ground, mumbling a stiff "...'m not grumpy."

Bishop, floated around in front of him. "I've called our jumpships. Your Ghosts should be able to transmat you now."

"Do I _have_ a jumpship?" Indi-4 asked Sol. 

Her shell expanded happily. "Yes! I'm afraid it's a fairly basic Arcadia class, but it should suffice until you get the glimmer for a different one." Suddenly, his entire frame felt electric, like small static shocks from the top of his cranium to the soles of his feet. His vision went white. 

What-

When it faded back in, he was staring out over the planet. Below him, the giant, shattered shell of the Traveler glowed bright white as it hovered over the City. He looked out at the line that divided the planet from the empty vaccuum of space.

"All those people down there, and the only thing keeping them alive is that blue line," he said softly. A slight fear crept into the back of his mind. If he was propelled out of his ship, would he die?

Or word his existence as a synthetic lifeform keep him alive?

"Really puts things into perspective, doesn't it?" Alethia's voice came through his ship. "How fragile life really is. Kinda amazes you that humanity has survived five different alien species, hellbent on our destruction."

"Not just the humans'," Rook corrected. "They'd wipe out the Exos and Awoken too, if left unchecked. That's why we're here. To protect the life of this solar system."

"For us specifically, that means running patrols on the planets of the system," Alethia chimed in. "Where are we headed today?"

The Titan turned his ship, both members of his present fireteam following behind. "Nessus."

—×—

Ara's comdev beeped loudly next to the pillow. She pushed up from the bed and pulled up the message from Rook, some long-winded thing about how he was disappointed she had skipped out on their mission, it was important to make a good impression...

She turned off the volume and placed it face down on the side table before rolling over and tugging the blankets up around her shoulders. Just in front of her, Dess' back was exposed to her beneath the covers. She pressed up against the human, wrapping an arm around her waist while the other went under the pillows for support. Nuzzling her face against the back of Dess' neck, Ara sighed.

What was she doing here? Avoiding Indi-4 would only work for so long, and she had to make glimmer. Fortunately, her room in the Tower came without rent or utilities, due to the Vanguard taking small amounts of glimmer from every Guardian, sort of like a tax. 

But she enjoyed luxuries they didn't provide, like scented soaps and body care, new robes and of course food.Though, just then, hunger wasn't really an issue.

Dess had, with Ara's help, made a rich, flavorful stew that had filled both their bellies before they dove into a rare treat for Dess—a bottle of wine. 

Not-quite-tipsy, the two women had fallen to the bed in a flurry of kisses and soft touches. But they had drifted off to sleep before anything had really happened. 

She should leave. Quietly crawl out of bed and dress quickly. She should go back to the Tower and deal with things there. It wasn't quite as late there as it was here, and it would only take a few minutes to get there in the jumpship... 

Dess rolled over in her sleep and snuggled up against Ara. She closed her arms back around the smaller human, relaxing into the pillows with a sigh. 

Ara could deal with Rook in the morning. She'd be back before he woke anyway. 

—×— 

Rook tossed the comdev onto the couch with a frustrated sigh. Raking his fingers through his hair, he freed it from the tie that held it back as he moved into the kitchen. His long bangs drifted down into his face as he took a drink from the fridge. While he drank, Alethia slid up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. 

"You're not dealing with this well," she murmured just below his shoulderblade. He pursed his lips. 

How was he supposed to handle it? For the first time, in all the time he knew Ara, she hadn't trusted in him to see her through. She hadn't come to him with her fears. Ara had just gone off on her own. Intentionally. 

He wondered briefly if the woman behind him had anything to do with that. Surely Ara knew better than to think that he would put a new romance above their centuries-old friendship. 

Didn't she? 

Alethia's hands crept lower. "Anything I can do to help?" She cupped him through his pants. He groaned, low in his throat as desire flickered to life, washing away everything else for the moment. He could lose himself in this for just a little while. Everything else would still be there in the morning. 

She slid her other hand behind the waistband of his sweatpants, fingers creeping down to run along his shaft. He shivered, a jolt of arousal arcing through him. Alethia smiled, her lips curving as they pressed against his skin. Lazily, she rubbed from head to base and back again. She moved her other hand up and around, Trailing her nails lightly along his skin. He sighed, leaning into her touch. 

"You couldn't wait for me to answer?" he teased. She nipped him playfully, and he hissed. "Guess not." 

It was his turn to touch her. His tank hung off her much smaller frame, pooling around her waist over her wide hips. She hadn't bothered to put pants on, not that it really mattered. He slid his hands over her shoulders and down her back, letting small bursts of arc energy move with them. Goosebumps covered her shoulders as her nipples hardened and became noticeable through the thin fabric of the shirt. "Mmm..." 

"You like that?" he asked, grasping a handful of her ass. She hummed against his neck as he leaned down to grasp her buttocks. In response, he let loose a more powerful jolt. She moaned in his ear, her grasp on his cock tightening pleasurably. 

Rook moved backwards, pulling her with him until he sat on the couch with Alethia perched on his knees. Tugging the hem of the shirt, he lifted it over her head and tossed it to the side. Completely bare, her body was his to explore. He grasped her wrists and pulled them behind her, taking them both in one hand before bringing the other around to her front. Lightly, he trailed his fingers up her thigh, sending out pulses that grew in intensity the closer he moved to her core. 

Rather than satisfy her whines, he moved upwards, over her soft belly and to her breasts. Taking one into his mouth, he rolled the other one between his thumb and forefinger, letting arc dance around his fingertips. It hummed low and quiet even in the silent apartment, drowned out oy by the sound of Alethia's heavy breathing. Her hands twisted at the edge of his grasp, his fingers tightening around her wrists. He nipped at the already hard nub, at the same time brushing the other with an intense spark. 

Alethia's back arched as she cried out, the sound making his cock jerk in response. It bumped against her heated slit, dripping with arousal. His charged fingers dropped, skimming along her clit. Her legs quivered on either side of him. He sucked on her nipple, giving it another sharp nibble before releasing it. 

Eyes trained on her face, he worked two fingers into her body. They slid in easily enough, especially when his thumb moved to rest on her clit and pulsed with arc. At the third knuckle, they filled her tight hole as it clamped down with each burst. 

"Are you enjoying yourself?" he asked, sliding his fingers slowly in and out of her body. 

Her eyes were closed tightly against the sensations wracking it. "Yes," she breathed. 

Thumb working in slow, lazy circles, he increased the intensity of the shocks, rubbing against the slightly rougher patch of flesh inside of her with his other fingers. Her legs began to quiver again, her back arching so that her heavy breasts hung beautifully before him. 

Content, he brought her to orgasm like that, refusing to stop until her moans turned to screams that bounced off the walls. 

"That's it," he growled. "Let everyone hear you." Only when she became incomprehensible did he relent, pulling his fingers from her. 

Below her, his thighs and cock had become coated in her fluids. He brought his hand to his cock, stroking it between her thighs so that it bumped against her poor, overstimulated clit. 

"You made quite a mess." Releasing her wrists, he pulled her hips closer to him so that he could fit the head of his cock into her heat. 

He continued to stroke himself. She tipped forward, bracing her forearms on his shoulders. With a chuckle, he released himself, pulling her until her knees hit the cushions behind him. 

Now fully hilted, he grasped her and rearranged them, placing a pillow under her hips. He lay atop her, moving slowly all the way in and out. His thumbs found her nipples again, sending small shocks to the tender flesh. Her hands grasped his arms, nails biting down. 

"That's it," he murmured in her ear, hearing her breath hitch again. Her legs wound around his waist, forcing him to shorten his strokes. His balls slapped wetly against her body, her cum from earlier making a mess of them both. Though her throbbing pussy indicated she was close yet again. "Reach down between us and touch yourself." 

Her slender arm snaked down between them. Her fingertips brushed his cock as it slid in and out of her before running along her clit. He palmed her breasts, squeezing them tightly. She moaned. 

He was so close now. Just a bit more...

She cried out, her whole body tightening around his. He thrust deeply, pushing his cock as far into her as he could as he came. She pulsed around him, her body greedily sucking his cock and his cum.

"Fuck..." she breathed, her chest heaving. Rook released her breasts, propping himself up on his elbows.

"Someone enjoys being shocked." Witb a smirk, he kissed a path from her jaw to her shoulder.

"I just have one question."

"Hm?"

"When can we do that again?"


End file.
